STRANGE 
PEOPLES £# CUSTOMS 

BY 

Adelaide Bee Evans 

AUTHOR OF 

''Easy Steps in the Bible Story," 
''The Bible Year,'" etc. 



Pacific Press Publishing Association 

Mountain View, California 

Kansas City, Mo. St. Paul, Minn. Portland, Ore. 

Brookfield, 111. Cristobal, Canal Zone 






Copyright, 1921. by 

Pacific Press Publishing Assn. 

Mountain View, California 



FEB 2A 1321 
§)CU605879 




Irwin and Robert 

and 
All the other hoys and 
girls who are helping 
with their missionary 
offerings to send the 
Good News to the chil- 
dren of far-off lands. 




(7) 



CHILDREN OF ALL LANDS 

There are little black children on Africa's sand, 
And yellow-skinned babes in the Flowery Land, 

And brown in the isles of the sea. 
And white ones and red in this land we call ours. 
But they all love the birds, and the trees, and the flowers, 

And play the same games as do we. 

When Jesus, the Saviour, was here upon earth, 

He blessed little children, and taught their true worth — 

How precious these little souls be! 
"Suffer the children," the dear Saviour said — 
And He didn't say yellow, white, black, brown, or red. 
But the children — "to come unto Me." 

In the streets of the city of cities so fair. 
Where sorrow and sin never taint the pure air, 

The children will play, large and small. 
They'll come from the yellow, red, brown, black, and white, 
For they all are alike in His heart-searching sight, 

And He equally loveth them all. 

Elizabeth Rosser. 



(9) 



PREFACE 

This little book was written with two American boys, 
Eobert and Irwdn, in mind, to whom it is dedicated. 
But bej^ond these boys, the author saw other Roberts 
and Irwins of other names, and Ruths and Dorothys 
and Marys ; boys and girls by ones and twos and threes 
and larger groups, scattered throughout the civilized 
lands of the world; girls and boys growing up into 
splendid womanhood and manhood, who, it is hoped, 
will be missionaries for God in the homeland, and per- 
haps in the regions beyond the sea. 

The larger field of the book lies among strange peo- 
ples with strange habits and ways and dress, among 
the boys and girls with strange studies and work and 
oftentimes strange plays. From the time Mrs. Evans 
leaves the sunny shores of California till she bids us 
farewell, she is in lands strange to American people ; 
and we are sure our boys and girls will go with her in 
her interesting trips through the wonderful Hawaiian 
Islands, "the Sunrise Empire," "the Land of the 
Wliite Elephant," "where the railway trains rest at 
night," to the great city of Singapore, "the Tiger 
Town," into the ancient and now distressed "Land 
of the Morning Calm," among the Philippine Islands, 
and to far-away, little known ' ' Beautiful Borneo. ' ' 

"We may be sure the journeys were not always pleas- 
ant ; but the story is beautifully, pleasantly told, and 
the reader will enjoy it all the way. But that which 
many will enjoy most is the fact that among those 

(11) 



12 PREFACE 

darker skinned children of earth, the blessed good tid- 
ings of Jesus is going, telling of the wondrous love to 
all, of His power to save, of the better home He is 
preparing, and that He is soon coming again to take 
all His children home, and that many are accepting 
the gospel. That the little book may be a blessing is 
the prayer of — 

The Publishers. 



CONTENTS 

I. Our Great Round World - . 17 

II. Travel a Century Ago 25 

III. Missionaries 41 

IV. The Hawaiian Islands 51 

V. Missionaries in Hawaii ....... 61 

VI. A Country of Islands 74 

VII. Children op Japan 92 

VIII. Missionaries in Japan ....... Ill 

IX. Our Missionaries in Japan 120 

X. The Land of Siam 128 

XI. Early Days in Siam 143 

XII. Strange Customs and Children of Siam . 154 

XIII. A Visit to an Ancient City ...... 165 

XIV. Where the Trains Rest at Night . . . 179 
XV. The Land of Morning Calm . . ^. . . . 193 

XVI. Boys and Girls of Chosen 211 

XVII. Mission Work in Chosen 225 

XVIII. The Philippine Islands 237 

XIX. The Islands Under Different Nations . 245 

XX. Houses and People 264 

XXI. On the Abra River .277 

XXII. Beautiful Borneo 290 

XXIII. "We Have Watched Your Living" ... 301 

XXIV. A Sago Factory and Farewell . . . . 310 



(13) 



STRANGE PEOPLES AND 
CUSTOMS 




(16) 




CHAPTER I 



OUR GREAT ROUND WORUD 

OUR train is westward bound from New 
York City, on schedule time. Some- 
times, in these busy, rushing days, when 
clocks and watches and chronometers and 
astronomical observatories are everywhere 
around us, I wonder if we do not forget how 
people measured time before timepieces were 
invented. But they did measure it by their 
great timekeeper, the sun. 

It seems strange to most boys and girls now 
that people in general ever believed that the 
earth was flat. But they did. 

The Chinese said it was like a big plate, 
with China in the center, in the very heart of 
its good land. 

(17) 




Chinese Water Clock 

Others thought it was like a great tray, or 
a mammoth boat, floating on the water. 

Some said the earth rested on huge pillars, 
while still others believed that it was like an 
immense lily leaf with long roots reaching far 
down in the water and holding it fast. 

(18)\ 

\ 



OUR GREAT ROUND WORLD 19 

There were still others who believed that it 
was like half of a great ball, resting upon four 
great elephants, and the elephants stood upon 
a mammoth turtle, and the turtle on a pile of 
rocks. When asked what the rocks rested on, 
they said it was rocks all the way down. But 
on one thing the most of them, who had never 
traveled, thought as did the Chinese, that their 
own country was in the middle of the earth, 
the very best place. They knew the sun went 
over the earth, but thought it was much 
smaller. Where it went at night, they did not 
know, and so they made up fanciful stories 
to explain it. But most of these stories were 
so foolish that the people did not long believe 
them. 

Men, more and more, began to study about 
the earth and the sun and the moon and the 
stars. In different ways, they came to the 
conclusion that the world was round like a 
ball, and did not rest upon anything. They 
might have learned from the Bible that it 
was held up in space by the power of God. 
Nearly three thousand years ago the Lord's 
servant Job said of God, "He hangeth the 
earth upon nothing." ^ 

One of these men was Christopher Colum- 
bus, who declared that if he had ships, he 
could sail around the earth. 

About the same time, a boy named Nicho- 
las Copernicus was growing to manhood in 




An 

Ancient 
Astronomer 



Poland. He studied earnestly and took great 
interest in astronomy, the study of the heav- 
ens. He finally came to believe that instead 
of the sun and the stars moving around the 
earth, the earth itself moved. This was a new 
idea, and a true idea. Copernicus concluded 
that the earth turned around every day, at the 
same time that it passed in a great circular 
path in the heavens around the sun. And he 
began to teach this. 

Later, in Italy, w^as a man named Galileo, 
who began to teach the same thing. He 
built a telescope, the first that was ever used 
to look at the stars. It was not much like our 
present finished telescopes, but it was a good 
beginning. It was like a key opening a door 
into a wonderful and beautiful room that men 
had only seen through dim windows before the 
telescope was made. 

(20) 



OUR GREAT ROUND WORLD 21 

But when Galileo began to talk about some 
of the strange and wonderful things that he 
saw through the telescope, the people would 
not look through it. They said he was very 
wicked, and he said they were very foolish. 
He laughed at them, and they hated him. 

Still Galileo kept on using the telescope, 
and studying the stars. One night he was 
looking at the bright planet Jupiter. This 
planet Galileo said had four moons traveling 
around it. Better telescopes have found four 
other members of the family, so Jupiter has 
at least eight moons. We cannot see all these 
moons, even on clear nights, when the stars, 
as we say, are shining brightly. But some- 
times one can be seen. Looking through a 
telescope, four of them can be seen plainly. 
When Galileo saw the four moons moving 
around this bright planet, he was very happy. 
"This is the way the earth moves around the 
sun," he said. 

Galileo wrote a book telling how the earth 
moves around the sun, and by and by his ene- 
mies shut him up in prison. Then they called 
a number of learned men together to say what 
he must do. After they had talked about it 
four months, they told him that he must either 
"recant" (take back what he had said) or be 
punished. 

So the poor old man — he was seventy years 
old then, and feeble with age and illness — 



22 STRANGE PEOPLES AND CUSTOMS 

fell down on his knees, and bowed his head, 
and said that he "abjured and detested" the 
"error and heresy" in his book, and would not 
teach it any more. 

Every one who loves the truth is sorry that 
poor old Galileo said these words, for he was 
saying what he did not really believe. We are 
told that when he got up from his knees, he 
whispered to a friend, "It does move." And 
so it does. Brave men sailed around the world 
and home again. A great man}^ travelers 
since those days have started at one place, and 
kept going on and on in the same direction, 
till finally they were at home again, and going 
in through their own front doors. 

ON THE PACIFIC OCEAN 

We are still westward bound, on a large 
ship now, on the broad Pacific Ocean. It is 
a big, blue ocean, the largest in the world, as 
we all know. We shall sail on it for eighteen 
or nineteen days, from San Francisco to 
Japan. We shall make one stop, at some 
lovely green islands in the sea, of which T 
will tell you more later. 

If we kept right on going and going, travel- 
ing over the land where there is land, and ovei- 
the water where there is water, by and by we 
should be in New York again. All the way, 
there would be water to sail on, or land where 



OUR GREAT ROUND WORLD 



23 



people live and build houses, and work and 
play. We should see all sorts of children — 

Slant-eyed children in Japan, 

Smiling, bowing, gay; 
Sober children in Chosen, 

Old before their day; 
Yellow children, sweet and shy, 

China's hope and pride; 
Black, and brown, and white like you. 

In this world so wide. 

All these children would have homes of 
some kind, though not like yours; and they 
would have clothes, at least where it is cold, 
but these would be different too. 

But there is one thing that is not different. 
They have hearts like yours. They like kind- 
ness and smiles, and they cry when they are 
hurt. They love to play, and they like bright- 
colored flowers, and fruits, and candy. They 
know what it is to be hungry and cold and 
tired, and to feel pain. The Bible tells us that 
God, who made the earth and everything that 
is in it, "hath made of one blood all nations 
of men." 

When the Lord made this "great big beau- 
tiful world," He made it for people to live on. 
He made the trees and the grass and the flow- 
ers, the fishes that swim in the sea, the birds 
that fly in the air, and the animals that live 
in the forests and on the great plains. When 
the earth was finished, and Adam and Eve 
had been created, "God saw everything that 
He had made, and, behold, it was very good." 



24 STRANGE TEOPLES AND CUSTOMS 

It was God's plan that all men and women 
who should live on the earth should be pure 
and good. But Adam and Eve disobeyed 
God. Envy and hate and murder and death 
spoiled the beautiful world. Men and women 
went deeper and deeper into sin, till by and 
by many of them forgot all about God, and 
some who knew about Him did not even try 
to serve Him. 

Still, most people in the world wish to wor- 
sliip something. When they do not worship 
the true God, who made the earth and the sun 
and all the stars, they often make an image 
of stone or wood or clay, and bow down be- 
fore it, and worship it. 

We call such people heathen. In the lands 
to which my husband and I are going, there 
are many heathen. These should hear the gos- 
pel, the good news that Jesus died to save 
sinners. All who believe on Him, and confess 
their sins, will some day live with Him. 

Many people in these heathen lands are 
happy to hear the gospel. When they learn 
about Jesus, their faces shine with joy. They 
are more kind and gentle, and love one an- 
other better than they did before. I know 
many boys and girls in these lands who love 
the Lord Jesus, and pray to Him every day, 
and try to keep His commandments. 



CHAPTER II 

TRAVEL A CENTURY AGO 

IT is generally enjoyable for boys and girls 
to ride on railway trains. It is fun to 
pick out the things that you will carry, 
with the lunch that you will eat at night. It 
is fun, too, to watch the smiling porter make 
up the beds — and, for once, it is fun to go to 
bed! But it is still more pleasant to get up 
in the morning, and, fresh and clean, go into 
the diner, and eat oatmeal and cream while the 
train rushes along through villages and cities 
and tunnels and woods and green fields. 

Nearly all over the world, there are miles 
and miles of shining railway tracks, and noisy, 
puffing engines, and long trains where the 
people may ride. Everywhere the children 
love to ride on the cars. White children, like 
you, and brown children, and black children 
with smiling faces, and solemn-eyed little yel- 
low children — they all like to go, though they 
may have different ways of showing it. 

There are boats, both large and small, on 
the ocean, for people to ride in, and boats 
almost as large on the great navigable rivers, 
as we know. Then there are smaller boats, 
which get along quite well where the big boats 
could never go. So you see that any one who 
lives in one part of the world may go easily 
and quickly to places far away. 

(25) 



^^;?^^.bfei.TSr?^ 




To the PUBLIC. 

THE FLYING MACHINE, kept by 
John Mercereau, at the NewBlasing-Star-Ferfy, 
near New- York, fets off from Powles-Hook every Men- 
day, Wediiffday, and Friday Mornings, for Philadelphia, 
and performs the Journey in a Day and a Half, for the 
Summer Seafon, (ill the iftof November; from that Time 
go twice a Week (ill the fiiA of May, when they 



three Times a Week. When the Stages 



again perforn 

go only twice a Week, they fet off Mondays and ThiTrf- 
The Waggons in Philadelphia fet out from the 
Sign ol (he George, in Second- flreet, the fame Morning. 
The Paffengers are defired to crofs the Ferry the Evening 
before, as the Stages muft fet off early the next Morning. 
The Price for each PafTenger it Ti«/</;ry Ji/ViV^j, Proc. and 
Goods as ufuaL Paffengers going Far( of the. Way to pay 
in Proportion. 

As the Proprietor has Tna<3e fueh Im'proyemenls upon 
the Machines, one of which is in Imitation of aCoach, 
he hopes to m«(it the Favour of the Publick. 

JOHN MERCEREAU. 




In 1771 John Mercereau 
started a stage line be- 
tween New York and 
Philadelphia, and upon 
attaining a record of mak- 
ing the journey in a day 
and a half felt justified 
in naming his coach the 
"Plying Machine," and so 
advertised it. 



The De Witt 

Clinton 

Train 



(26) 



TRAVEL A CENTURY AGO 27 

A hundred years ago it was very different. 
There were no railwa}^ trains, no automobiles, 
no bicycles even. People traveled slowly in 
those days, riding on horseback, or in big, 
clumsy "coaches," or in lumbering carts drawn 
by oxen. If they wished to go a long way, 
they made a canvas roof for the farm wagon, 
and packed their clothes and beds and dishes 
inside. Then they climbed in, and with the 
children on low seats where they could see, 
away they rattled. 

The roads were very rough, when there 
w^ere any roads at all. Often there was only 
a bumpy "trail" through the woods or across 
the prairie. Sometimes, in swampy places, 
there would be a road of logs, called a cordu- 
roy road. Then the wagon would go humpi- 
ty-bumpity, which, if there was not too much 
of it, was great fun for the children. In 
America, such a thing as a smooth paved road 
in the country was seldom seen in those days. 

It took a long time to make a journey — 
a whole month to go as far as you can go in 
one day now, in a good train. The fathers 
and mothers were very tired sometimes: but 
the children were happy, with so many new 
things to see every day. 

There were no steamships, either, only sail- 
ing vessels. And while those boats went to 
countries near and far away, they were pro- 
pelled only by the wind, and went very slowly 




Statue of Columbus 



(28) 



TRAVEL A CENTURY AGO 29 

at times. Often a boat sailing away from 
New York to the other side of the world 
would be gone three years. The captain 
would hardly know his boys and girls when 
he came home again. 

A BRAVE SAILOR 

I am sure you have heard the story of 
Christopher Columbus. When he was a little 
boy, he used to play by the seashore, and 
watch the ships. "I will be a sailor, and sail 
on a ship, when I am a man," he said. 

His father wanted Christopher to be a 
weaver, like himself; but when he saw that 
the boy would surely go to sea when he was 
old enough, he sent him to school to learn all 
about ships, and maps, and charts, — all about 
navigation, which all sailors must know if 
they are ever to be captains. And that is 
what the young Christopher wished to be. 

It is a long story. I cannot tell it all here. 
I will only tell you that by and by the happy 
day came when the man Christopher Colum- 
bus sailed away from Palos, a seaport in 
Spain, sure that he could find a new and 
shorter way to India. He sailed west on 
the great Atlantic Ocean, determined to go 
farther than any one had gone before. He 
had only three boats. They were very small, 
too. No one would think of starting off 



30 STRANGE PEOPLES AND CUSTOMS 

across a big ocean with them now; but they 
were the best he could get, and he was not 
afraid. 

This was in 1492. How long ago was that? 
In those daj^s, no one had ever crossed the 
great Atlantic Ocean, and come back to tell 
what was on the other side. Columbus was 
going to lind out, if he could; and he was 
very sure he could. 

But the rough sailors who went with Co- 
lumbus did not share his brave spirit. Week 
after week went by — and still there was no 
land. What would become of them? Their 
food would soon be used up; and if they did 
not find land, they would starve to death. 
Every day, they would come to their brave 
captain, and say: 

"O sir! May we turn the boat about, and 
sail toward home?" 

And everv day, Columbus would answer: 
''Xo! Sail onr 

Joaquin jNIiller, whom we call "the poet of 
the Sierras," wrote a stirring poem about this 
question and answer. Learn it by heart, and 
think about it often, so that its brave spirit 
may help you when you come to hard places, 
and feel like turning around and running- 
back where it is easy and pleasant: 




Sail 



On! 



Behind him lay the gray Azores, 

Behind, the Gates of Hercules; 
Before him not the ghost of shores, 

Before him only shoreless seas. 
The good mate said: "Now we must pray, 

For, lo, the very stars are gone. 
Brave admiral, speak! What shall I say?" 
"Why, say: 'Sail on! sail on! and on!' " 

"My men grow mutinous day by day; 

My men grow ghastly, wan, and weak." 
The stout mate thought of home; a spray 

Of salt wave washed his swarthy cheek. 
"What shall I say, brave admiral, say, 

If we sight naught but seas at dawn ? " 
"Why, you shall say, at break of day: 

'Sail on! sail on! sail on! and on!' " 

They sailed. They sailed. Then spake the mate: 

"This mad sea shows his teeth to-night. 
He curls his lip, he lies in wait. 

He lifts his teeth as if to bite! 
Brave admiral, say but one good word: 

What shall we do when hope is gone?" 
The words leaped like a leaping sword : 
"Sail on! sail on! sail on! and on!" 

Then pale and worn he paced his deck. 

And peered through darkness. Ah, that night 
Of all dark nights ! And then a speck — 

A light! A light! At last a light! 
It grew, a starlit flag unfurled! 

It grew to be Time's burst of dawn. 
He gained a world. He gave that world 

Its grandest lesson: "On! sail on!" 



(31) 



32 STRANGE PEOPLES AND CUSTOMS 

After seventy days, — a long time to be 
going, and not know where, — Columbus and 
his men came in sight of land. The New 
World was discovered. And there was great 
rejoicing on shipboard then, you may be sure. 

In these days, large ships go back and forth 
across the wide Atlantic very swiftly and 
safely. If Columbus were alive to-day, and 
wished to see the New World that he sailed 
so bravely to discover, he could go from Palos, 
in Spain, to the West Indies in a week on 
what we would call a "slow boat." 

There was great excitement when Colum- 
bus came home to Spain. Soon many men 
sailed away to see what they could find, and 
some of them came hoihe again with wonder- 
ful tales. Boys playing by the seashore heard 
these marvels; and some of them wished to 
sail to distant lands too, when they were old 
enough. 

LONG JOURNEYS IN OLDEN DAYS 

Fernando Magellan lived in Portugal. He 
had heard about Columbus, and other men 
who followed him across the Atlantic; and he 
dreamed of a time when he should go still 
farther than any one had gone yet. Every 
one was talking of wonderful islands in the 
unknown seas, where one could get all the 
gold he could bring away, and tons of spices 
and other precious things. 



TRAVEL A CENTURY AGO 33 

Magellan wished to find these islands, and 
make himself rich and great, and add riches 
to his king too. But the king of Portugal 
only laughed at him, and would not help him 
carry out his plans. So Magellan went to the 
king of Spain, who gave him five ships. 

This was not really a great gift. The boats 
were old and poor, and their timbers were 
rotten. "Their ribs are soft as butter," some 
one wrote to the king of Portugal, who, 
though he would not help Magellan, still 
wished to know what he was doing. 

But in spite of all, Magellan thought the 
ships would do, and he sailed away with a 
high heart. Perhaps courage is better than 
stout ships — if you cannot have both. 

From the first, there was plenty of trouble. 
There was a dreadful storm, and one of the 
poor little ships was wrecked. Some of the 
men were sick, the food supply got low, and 
they were all discouraged. The sailors so 
much wished to go home, that by and by they 
made a plan to kill Magellan. If they could 
get rid of him, they thought, they could turn 
around and sail back to Spain. But Magellan 
told his officers, when they asked him what 
to do, that he was not afraid of these sailors. 
"I will do my appointed work," he said. And 
the men knew well that he meant what he said. 

After a long time, Magellan and his sailors 
came to the very southern point of the great 



o 

&4 pj 



4) till 4A 





(34) 



TRxVYEL A CEXTURY AGO 35 

continent of South America, and guided their 
ships into a long, narrow body of water, or 
strait. Magellan had believed that he could 
find a passage beyond the land known as 
America, and he was very proud and happy 
when he found it. To this day, these straits 
are called the Straits of Magellan, in his 
honor. 

Five long weeks Magellan's little ships 
sailed in and out among the many islands of 
these straits, all the time keeping a general 
westward course. By and by the day came 
when they left land behind once more, and 
sailed out into the greatest body of water 
on earth — the Pacific Ocean. Magellan was 
very happy then — so happy that he shed 
tears of joy; for he knew that he had done 
what no man had ever done before — he 
had sailed from the Atlantic Ocean into the 
Pacific. 

But his troubles were not all over. One of 
the four ships now left to him stole away, so 
then there were only three. But these three 
sailed out on the great sea to the west. On, 
and on, and on, and on! There was no more 
food, and very little water. The men ate bits 
of leather, and sawdust, and even rats. Those 
were days to test the stoutest heart. 

Ninety-eight days they sailed. Then they 
came to some small islands, where they found 
a little fresh food. Not long afterward, at 



36 STRANGE PEOPLES AND CUSTOMS 

another and larger group of islands (we know 
them as the Philippines in these days, and 
now many Americans live there), the brave 
Magellan was killed. The men who were with 
him got into two of the ships, and sailed away 
as quickly as they could. 

After a while these two ships, the "Victoria" 
and the "Trinidad," reached the Spice Is- 
lands, which Magellan had been so sure 
he could find. The sailors loaded the ships 
with spices ; but when they started to go home, 
they found that the "Trinidad" was so old and 
poor that it would never do to take her out 
on the ocean again till she was repaired. So 
only one of the five ships that had left Spain 
started out for the last part of the long 
voyage. This was the "Victoria." 

You would have thought the men on this 
little ship had had troubles enough, but there 
were more ahead. Many of the sixty men 
who left the Spice Islands on the "Victoria" 
died on the way to Spain; and when the boat 
finally reached home again, there were only 
eighteen men, weak and sad and ill, to tell 
the thrilling story of the long voyage, of 
the wonderful discoveries they had made, 
and of the sad death of the brave Fernando 
Magellan. 

® THE PILGRIMS 

More than a hundred years after Columbus 
sailed away frorp Spain and discovered the 



TRAVEL A CENTURY AQO 37 

New World, a little company of men and 
women decided to leave Europe, their former 
home, and go to America to build themselves 
new homes. They sailed from Plymouth, in 
England, to Leyden, in Holland, and from 
there to America, and landed at a place they 
called Plymouth, in Massachusetts. The boat 
that they had sailed on was the "Mayflower" 
— ^a very pretty name for a boat, I think. 
But it was a sad, hard journey, and the little 
company were nine long weeks on the way. 

Though it was more than a hundred years 
since Columbus had crossed the Atlantic, 
people had not learned to travel much faster. 
It took Columbus and his three little boats 
seventy days to reach land; and the Pilgrim 
Fathers, as the men who came on the "May- 
flower" were called, spent sixty- three days on 
the way to Massachusetts. They were very 
tired of the "Mayflower" by that time, you 
may be sure, and glad enough to step out on 
the solid earth again. 

But if they were to make the journey now, 
they could cross the ocean in a large, roomy 
boat, with a pleasant deck to walk on in the 
daytime, and comfortable rooms to sleep in 
at night. If it were hot, a busy little fan 
would do its best to keep them cool ; and if 
it were cold, there would be heat to make them 
cozy. All the way, there would be fresh, pure 
water to drink, plenty of good food to eat. 



TEAVEL A CENTURY AGO 39 

and a doctor to take care of them if they were 
sick. And the whole journey would take 
only a week, or even less time on a fast boat. 

A BETTER W ORLD TO COME 

Do you wonder why it is that in the last 
hundred years, people have learned so many 
more ways of going fast from one place to 
another than they found out in all the thou- 
sands of years before? 

I will tell you one reason. The world as 
it now is will not last always. By and by it 
will be burned up, and a new and glorious 
earth will be made in its place. But before 
that happens, Jesus will come and take all 
the people who love Him to be with Him in 
His own beautiful home. 

Many people w^ould like to live in the new 
earth, when it is made as beautiful as it was 
in the beginning; so before Jesus comes, all 
the people everywhere must be told that He 
is coming. Those who give their hearts to 
Him, and love Him, will be very happy when 
He comes, and will be ready to go with Him 
to His heavenly home, and to live in the new 
earth when it is ready. 

But the world is so big, you say, and there 
are so many people ! How can they all hear 
the good news? Oh, there are men and 
women who will gladly go to them, and tell 
them. The fast trains will carry them, the 



40 



STRANGE PEOPLES AND CUSTOMS 



swift ships will take them safely over the 
great oceans, and then other trains and 
smaller boats will help them to go wherever 
they wish. 

The good news that Jesus loves men, 
women, and children, that He died to save 
them, and that He is coming soon to take 
them to His own beautiful home, is called 
"the gospel of the kingdom"; for the word 
"gospel" means "good news." Jesus said: 

"This gospel of the kingdom shall be 
preached in all the world; . . . and then 
shall the end come." 

The men and women who carry the good 
news to people who have never heard it are 
called missionaries. In our next chapter, we 
will learn about some Bible missionaries. 





CHAPTER III 

MISSIONARIES 

A MISSIONARY is One-Who-Does- 
Good-to-Others. Not all missionaries 
can go across the ocean; some of them 
stay right at home. They are "home mis- 
sionaries," — and very good missionaries they 
are, too. I have known boys and girls, 
younger and older, who were so sweet-tem- 
pered and pleasant and happy, so unselfish 
and thoughtful, at home, that just to see 
them helped others all day long. 

Jeanne lived in the country. And because 
pink was her favorite color (all girls have a 
favorite color, you know) , and sometimes her 
cheeks were as pink as the roses on the vine 
at the end of the porch, her father called her 
Miss Pink. 

One day Father was going to Pleasant- 
ville with the prancing black horses and the 
shining new surrey; for this was before auto- 
mobiles were here and there on all the coun- 
try roads. 

(41) 



42 STRANGE PEOPLES AND CUSTOMS 

Miss Pink was going too; she was ready 
first of any one, with her white dress and 
white hat with the pink ribbons. Her eyes 
were shining, and her cheeks were pink as 
pink. 

But when the aunts and cousins who were 
going too were all ready, there wasn't room 
in the surrey for them all. Some one must 
stay at home. 

"I'll stay. Father," said Miss Pink. 

No ; she wasn't crying or pouting. She 
said it just as pleasantly as if staying were 
exactly as nice as going. 

Home is the best place of all to begin to 
be a missionary. 

Then, too, one may be a missionary at 
school, and on the playground, and even at 
Sabbath school. How? Oh, I could not tell 
you all the ways. If you remember that a 
missionary is One-Who-Does-Good-to-Others, 
you will find out the ways yourselves. 

The boys and girls who are home mission- 
aries and school missionaries will be very 
likely to grow up into the kind of men and 
women who will make good missionaries for 
lands far away. For taking a long journey 
on a train or a steamship does not make one 
a missionary. You know, yourselves, that it 
is just as easy to pout or be selfish at Great- 
grandmother's house, on the farm in Michi- 
gan, in one of the most pleasant places in 



MISSIONARIES 43 

the world, as it is in the sitting-room at home. 
It's how you feel inside that makes it easy to 
smile or to give Sister the biggest apple. 

There have been missionaries for thousands 
of years. 

BIBLE MISSIONARIES 

Abraham was a missionary. Wherever he 
pitched his tents, when he was staying first in 
one place and then in another, in the land of 
Canaan, he built an altar and worshiped the 
Ijord. And when he moved away, the altar 
was always left standing. By and by men 
who were passing that way would see the 
altar, and would talk about it. 

"Who built this altar?" one would ask. 

"Oh, Abraham built it — the old man who 
used to live in Ur." 

"What God does he worship?" 

"He worships Jehovah," the answer would 
be, "who, he says, made the earth, and the 
sun, and the moon, and the stars." 

Wherever Abraham lived, the people knew 
that he worshiped the true God; and when he 
went away, the altar still told the story. 

Joseph was a missionary. When he was 
only a boy, loved and petted and well dressed 
at home, his brothers sold him to some men 
who took him away to Egypt. There he be- 
came a slave, and by and by he was put into 
prison. There was no one to pity the lonely 
boy or be kind to him. 




(44) 



MISSIONARIES 45 

But Joseph was loyal to God, and the Lord 
blessed him and made him a great man in 
Egypt. After a while there was a famine, 
and every one in Egypt, and in all the lands 
near, came to Joseph to buy food. Joseph's 
cruel brothers came, too, and he was kind to 
them, and did all he could to help them. He 
sent for his father, and gave him a pleasant 
home in Egypt. 

Moses was a missionary, too. He carried 
a message from the great God of heaven to 
the cruel and wicked Pharaoh. Another name 
for a missionary is One-Who-Carries-a-Mes- 
sage, or One-Who-Goes-on-a-Mission. The 
king did not like Moses, and he did not wish 
to hear his message; but Moses went just as 
many times as the Lord told him to go, and 
said just what the Lord told liim to say. And 
though Pharaoh was very angry, he had no 
power to hurt Moses, for the Lord kept 
him safe. 

A MAIDEN WHO WAS A MISSIONARY 

This maiden lived many, many years ago, 
in the land of Israel. Those were troubled 
days. There was war. The strong soldiers 
of the king of Syria came to fight against the 
soldiers of the king of Israel, and carried 
away some of their grain, and took their gold 
and silver. 

One day some bands of Syrians came to 
the place where this little girl lived. I should 



46 STRANGE PEOPLES xVND CUSTOMS 

like so much to know her name; wouldn't 
you ? But the Bible has not told us her name, 
only what she said. 

We do not know what the wicked soldiers 
did this time, either, except that they took the 
little girl away from her father and mother 
and carried her into captivity, and gave her 
to their captain, whose name was Naaman. 
And Naaman took her home, and she became 
a serving maid, and "waited on Naaman's 
wife." 

If she had been a cross little girl, or a pouty 
girl, or if she had been always crying because 
of the dear father and mother that she might 
never see again, Mrs. Naaman would soon 
have sent her away to work somewhere out 
of her sight. For the brave captain's wife 
had a great sorrow in her heart, and she did 
not wish to see other people sad. 

But the little maid was quick and neat and 
pleasant and smiling and kind. When her 
mistress sat with her head bowed on her hand, 
the little girl knew of what she was thinking, 
and she was sorry. 

You see, the mighty Captain Naaman was 
a leper. Leprosy is a disease so dreadful that 
no doctor in all the world could cure it then, 
and none can surely cure it now. No wonder 
his wife was very sorrowful. 

The little maiden, who you might think had 
troubles enough of her own, longed to com- 



MISSIONARIES 47 

fort her mistress. She knew something too, 
did this wise girl of Israel, something that 
would help. In Israel there was a man who 
could cure Naaman. He was a prophet, and 
his name was Elisha. The Lord gave Elisha 
power to do many wonderful things. 

But the Syrians worshiped the sun god, and 
the moon god, and the thunder god, instead of 
the great God who made all things. They did 
not love the true God, and they despised His 
prophets. Would they listen if the little girl 
should tell them about Elisha? 

Day by day she thought it over. When she 
saw the great captain, she thought she never 
could tell; but when she saw the tears of her 
mistress, whom s,he was learning to love, she 
could not keep still. Yes, she must tell her 
about the prophet, no matter what happened. 

So one day she spoke out bravely, yet 
modestly, as became a young girl, and said, 
"Would that my lord were with the prophet 
that is in Samaria ! then would he recover him 
of his leprosy." 

Some one told the great king Benhadad 
what the little maid had said, and he sent a 
royal letter to the king of Israel, with money, 
asking that his captain be cured of leprosy. 

Then there was trouble indeed. The king 
of Israel had no power to cure leprosy, and he 
was afraid that when he said so, the king of 
Syria would send another army against him. 










Not All Missionaries Go Across the Ocean 

and kill him. He thought the king of Syria 
was making this an excuse for going to war. 

"And it came to pass, when the king of 
Israel had read the letter, that he rent his 
clothes, and said, Am I God, to kill and to 
make alive?" 

When Elisha heard that the king had rent 
his clothes, he said, "Let him come now to 

(48) 



MISSIONARIES 49 

me, and he shall know that there is a prophet 
in Israel." "So Naaman came with his horses 
and with his chariots, and stood at the door of 
the house of Elisha." He supposed that the 
prophet would feel greatly honored to see 
the royal chariots of the great Benhadad of 
Syria standing at his door. 

But Elisha did not come outside. He sent 
a messenger to tell Naaman to go and dip 
himself seven times in the Jordan. If he did 
this, he would be well. 

Naaman was in a great rage when he re- 
ceived this message. "I thought. He will 
surely come out to me," he said, "and stand, 
and call on the name of Jehovah his God, and 
wave his hand over the place, and recover 
the leper." 

But by and by he listened to the counsel 
of his servants, and went and dipped in the 
Jordan, as the prophet had said. "And his 
flesh came again like unto the flesh of a little 
child, and he was clean." 

There was great rejoicing when Captain 
Naaman came home again, with no signs of 
the dreadful leprosy on his body. I like to 
think that perhaps the captain and his wife 
sent the little maid back to her parents and 
friends in the country she loved so well ; but 
whether they did or not, I am sure there was 
no heart happier than hers in all that happy 
household. 




"There is no more lovely place in all the world, I am sure, than the 
Hawaiian Islands. In the foreground rice is growing and the coco- 
nut trees are reflected in the water. 



(50) 



CHAPTER IV 

THE HAWAIIAN ISLANDS 

BEFORE you read this chapter, it would 
be a good plan to look at a map, and 
find the Hawaiian Islands on it. They 
are almost in a straight line between Panama 
and Shanghai, in the middle of the Pacific 
Ocean. These islands have two names, the 
Sandwich Islands and the Hawaiian Islands. 

On many maps and in some books, they ai'e 
called the Sandwich Islands. But the people 
who live on them call them the Hawaiian Is- 
lands, and more and more this name is used 
everywhere. 

About one hundred and forty years ago, in 
1778, an Englishman, Captain Cook, sailing 
on the Pacific Ocean, found these islands. 
Like Columbus and Magellan, he was sailing 
to see what he could find, that had not been 
discovered before. He had two boats, the 
"Resolution" and the "Discovery." When he 
came to these islands, with their fine harbors, 
he was glad to stop for a time. And in honor 
of the earl of Sandwich, who had shown him 
kindness, he called them the Sandwich Islands. 

They are called the Hawaiian Islands be- 
cause the largest island in the group is named 
Hawaii. The names of the three next in size 
are Kauai, Maui, and Oahu. There are eight 
islands in all, on which people live. 

(&i) 




Hawaiian fisherman casting his net. In the bays are fish of every 
shape and color you can think of. 



(52) 



THE HAWAIIAN ISLANDS 53 

Honolulu, the capital city, is on Oahu; and 
it is in the pleasant harbor of Honolulu that 
ships sailing from San Francisco to Yoko- 
hama often stop for a day or so. The chil- 
dren are very glad to get off the boat, and 
walk about on the solid ground again, and 
perhaps take a dip in the sea at the famous 
bathing beach. 

The island of Hawaii is nearly twice as 
large as all the rest of the islands in the group 
put together. It has four high mountains, 
one of them almost fourteen thousand feet 
high. Mauna Loa, one of these mountains, 
is a volcano. Sometimes great jets of red-hot 
lava rise high in the air, and pour down the 
side of the mountain in wide streams that 
instantly destroy everything that stands in 
their way. Kilauea, another volcano, and one 
of the most wonderful in the world, is also 
on the island of Hawaii. 

There is no more lovely place in all the 
world, I am sure, than the Hawaiian Islands, 
with their high green hills, their rugged moun- 
tains with soft white clouds resting on their 
shoulders, their fertile valleys, their gay-col- 
ored flowers, and their blue, blue skies. It 
is never cold there, and never very warm. 
Gentle breezes from the land and from the 
sea cool the air so it is always like a pleasant 
summer day. 




The children are very glad to take a dip in the sea 
at the famous Wakiki Beach. 



The ocean is never very far away. From 
the hills, one can see its shining waves stretch- 
ing far in the distance. There are sheltered 
bays where the water is of such lovely blue 
and pale green tints that you would have to 
see it in order to believe that water could ever 
look like that. 

In the bays and in the ocean are delicately 
tinted shells, and fish of almost every shape 
and color you can think of. Beautiful trees, 
bearing delicious fruits, lofty palms, bright- 
colored shrubs, and flowers of all kinds make 
the islands like a great garden. 

And such places to swim! You never saw 
such fine beaches, sandy and smooth, with 
long rollers coming in from the sea, and the 
water just right, neither too cool nor too 
warm. All the little boys and girls who live 
in the- Hawaiian Islands — and there are a 

(54) 



THE HAWAIIAN ISLANDS OO 

great many of them — love the sea, and most 

of them can swim. 

But with everything so fair aromid them, 

and with so much to make them happy, the 

people of these islands, when Captain Cook 

found them, were wicked and cruel and base. 

It was like the place we sometimes sing about 

in the missionary hymn — 

Where every prospect pleases, 
And only man is vile. 

DREADFUL RESULTS OF IDOL WORSHIP 

Have you ever seen an idol? Of course 
you know what an idol is — an image that 
heathen men and women and children wor- 
ship. I have seen many boys and girls wor- 
shiping idols. 

It seems very strange that any one should 
wish to make an image of clay or of stone or 
of wood, and then bow down to it and wor- 



An 

Old 

Idol 

House 



56 STRANGE PEOPLES AND CUSTOMS 

ship it. But that is just what has been done 
ever since sin fost came into the world. 

The Bible says a great deal about idols, and 
what will become of those who worship them. 

The prophet Jeremiah wrote: "One cutteth 
a tree out of the forest, the work of the hands 
of the workman, with the ax. They deck it 
with silver and with gold; they fasten it with 
nails and with hammers, that it move not. 
They are upright as the palm tree, but speak 
not: they must needs be borne, because they 
cannot go." 

Isaiah, another prophet, said: "The work- 
man melteth a graven image, and the gold- 
smith spreadeth it over with gold, and casteth 
silver chains." 

But these gods, no matter whether they are 
made of gold and silver, and decked with 
precious stones, or of wood or stone or clay, 
can never help men. The psalmist says: 
"They have mouths, but they speak not: eyes 
have they, but they see not: they have ears, 
but they hear not: noses have they, but they 
smell not: they have hands, but they handle 
not : feet have they, but they walk not : neither 
speak they through their throat." 

Suppose you were very hungry, and some 
one should say, "Here are two bowls; from 
which will you choose to eat?" 

First of all, you would look in the bowls. 
Suppose one had fresh, sweet bread and milk 



THE HAWAIIAN ISLANDS 57 

in it, and the other had a little pile of ashes 
— which would you choose? 

Of course you would take the bread and 
milk, which would give you strength and life. 

Those who love God, and worship Him, and 
obey and love His words, are like those who 
would choose good food when hungry; but 
those who worship idols are as if they chose 
ashes to eat. Of one who makes and worships 
idols, the Bible says, "He feedeth on ashes." 

SOME OF THE HORRIBLE IDOLS 

When Captain Cook found the Hawaiian 
Islands, there were about four hundred thou- 
sand people living on them. They had dark 
brown skins, and black eyes, and dark hair, 
sometimes straight and sometimes wavy. And 
they all worshiped idols. 

Pele was their chief goddess. She lived, 
so they said, in the great crater of Kilauea. 
When the molten, red-hot lava in the crater 
burst up in glowing jets, high in the air, and 
it looked as if the world were on fire, the 
people said, "Pele is angry." And when 
all was more quiet again, they said, "Pele is 
pleased." 

When the red-hot lava was tossed up into 
the cooler air like the waters of a great foun- 
tain, some of it was blown by the wind into 
fine, glassy threads. This the people called 
"Pele's hair." 



58 STRANGE PEOPLES AND CUSTOMS 

Kalaipahoa, the poison god, was a hideous 
image made of wood. He was supposed to 
kill every one who died of poison. Even the 
wood of which the image was made, though 
it was all right before, was thought to be 
poison when it was made into this shape. 

Tairi was the war god. This idol was 
twenty-four inches high — as tall as a large 
doll. Its body was woven of wicker, and then 
covered all over with red feathers. When 
the king went out to fight, Tairi was carried 
near him. 

Lono was another god. This idol was just 
a small head, carried on a long pole. There 
is still standing a large temple that was built 
in honor of Lono. Human sacrifices were 
often offered in her honor. 

Those who make idols and worship them 
are deceived. "They that make them are like 
unto them," says the psalmist. So you will 
not be surprised to know that when Captain 
Cook found the Hawaiian Islands, the people 
there did not know how to read or write. 
They had never heard of "two times two," and 
"three times three," and "five times five." Of 
course they had no schools. And they had no 
words, even, for things that we say every day, 
such as ''Thank you" 

They were not kind to one another. They 
laughed at cripples, and killed people who 
were sick and a burden. Worst of all, the 



THE HAWAIIAN ISLANDS 59 

mothers often killed their own babies, because 
they did not wish to bother with feeding them 
and caring for them. 

This seems too dreadful to tell ; but it shows 
what will happen when for long ages people 
worship false gods. It is knowing and loving 
the true God, who made the earth and the 
heavens, and who made man and loves him, 
that helps children to be good and obedient to 
their parents, and that puts into the hearts of 
parents a deep and true love for their children, 
so that they will not only care for their bodies, 
but teach them and train them every day to 
be honest and kind and loyal and true. 

HOW THEY DRESSED 

Most of the people in these islands wore no 
clothes at all in those days. Sometimes the 
men wore a narrow strip of cloth around the 
loins, and the women wore a short skirt reach- 
ing to the knees. The cloth of which this 
skirt was made was not really cloth at all. 
It was the soft inner bark of a tree, pounded 
into thin sheets. 

Both men and women were fond of wearing- 
wreaths on their heads and around their necks. 
Sometimes they made these wreaths of flow- 
ers, or again of tiny shells, or of colored seeds. 
Nowadays they make these wreaths, or lei, as 
they call them, of bright-colored paper, too, 
and come down to the boats to sell them to 
the passengers. 



60 



STRANGE PEOPLES AND CUSTOMS 



Though there were dreadful diseases on the 
islands, there were no doctors to tell the people 
how to care for their bodies or to help them to 
get well. Often the chief of one island would 
make war on the chief of another island. So 
in spite of the green valleys and the lovely 
hills and the blue skies and the delicious fruits, 
the Hawaiian Islands was not a place in 
which one would have chosen to live, in those 
daj^s. Indeed, when Captain Cook went back 
there, on his way home to England, he was 
killed. For a while, then, ships did not visit 
the islands. 

But after a time ships sailing on the Pacific 
began to stop there, and by and by a company 
of missionaries came, of whom our next chap- 
ter will tell. 




Banyan Tree in Honolulu 




The Hawaiians Are as Much at Home on Water as on Land 
CHAPTER V 

MISSIONARIES IN HAWAII 

OBOOKIAH was a Hawaiian boy. He 
saw his own father and mother killed 
in a war; and his baby brother, whom 
he was carrying on his back, was killed with 
a spear. But Obookiah got away, and not 
knowing where else to go, he found refuge 
with a kind sea captain from New England. 
When the captain and his boat sailed away 
from the islands, Obookiah was on board. 
And that is how the first Hawaiian boy came 
to New Haven, in Connecticut. 

That was more than a hundred years ago. 
New Haven was a small city then, and its 
famous college was not nearly so large as it 
is now. One day a kind-hearted man was 

(61) 



62 STKANGE PEOPLES AND CUSTOMS 

walking past one of the college buildings, and 
he noticed this dark-skinned boj^- sitting on the 
steps, ciying. 

"What is the matter?" asked the man. 

"Oh, I have never learned to read and write 
and study, and there is so much I would like 
to know! Other boys go to school here, but 
to me the door is shut," said Obookiah. 

Mr. Dwight — for that was the kind man's 
name — told Obookiah that he would teach 
him. This he did; and Obookiah not only 
learned to read and write, but he learned 
about Jesus, and gave his heart to Him. 

By and by a missionary school was opened, 
and Mr. Dwight was the first teacher. Five 
other Hawaiian boys came to this school, with 
Obookiah. They were studying to be mission- 
aries to their own people. 

Obookiah never went back to his island 
home. He died before he was through going 
to school. But some earnest young men had 
heard of him, and of the great need of his 
people; and the Lord put it into their hearts 
to carry the gospel to the people of the Ha- 
waiian Islands. 

THE FIRST MISSIONARIES 

In 1819, over a hundred years ago now, a 
company of missionaries sailed away from 
Boston on the good ship "Thadeus,' bound 
for Honolulu — the very first who had gone 



MISSIONARIES IN HAWAII 68 

to these far-away islands to tell the people 
about Jesus. In the party there were seven 
young men and their wives. There were five 
children, too, who were probably starting off 
on one of the longest ocean journeys ever 
taken by children up to that time, since the 
world began. Besides, there were three young 
Hawaiian men, who had been taught in the 
schools where Obookiah studied. 

Three of the missionary men were ministers, 
two were teachers, one was a doctor, one was 
a printer, and one was a farmer. You see, 
they not only planned to tell the people the 
good news of the gospel, but they also meant 
to teach them to read and write, and to take 
care of themselves when they were sick. The 
farmer would study how to raise better fruits 
and vegetables, and the printer would print 
primers and other books. As soon as a few 
chapters of the Bible could be written in the 
Hawaiian language, they would be printed, 
so the people could have them to read. Mr. 
Loomis, the printer, had a little printing press 
and some type and other things right with him 
in the ship, so he could begin to print, and 
teach the people to read, just as soon as he 
could learn their language. 

God opened the way for these missionaries. 
Even before their ship reached the islands, the 
king said that his people should no longer 
worship idols. Many of the idols were burned. 



64 STRANGE PEOPLES AND CUSTOMS 

and many more were thrown into the sea. 
This was not because the king and the people 
wanted a better religion, but because they felt 
that they could no longer endure the burdens 
of the one they had made for themselves. 

Five long months the boat bearing the little 
company from New England was on the sea. 
How glad they were when they neared the 
islands that they planned to make their home ! 
One of the young men, Hopu, who had come 
with them, went on shore to ask if they might 
land. Soon he came back, shouting, "Oahu's 
idols are no more!" 

This was good news indeed. Still the 
people were not willing that the missionaries 
should land, and they kept them waiting 
twelve days while they talked it over. At 
the end of that time, they said, "You may 
come and stay one year." We can imagine 
how glad the missionaries were when they set 
their feet on land again, after the long months 
at sea. 

But their hard days were not ended. Mr. 
and Mrs. Thurston and Dr. and Mrs. Holman 
lived for a time in a little grass hut. It was 
less than four feet high in the highest place, 
so of course they could not stand up straight 
in it. It had no floor, and no windows, and 
no ceiling; and it w^as in a very noisy, very 
dirty village. 



The first good house the missionaries had, — 

built in 1821, — was shipped from Boston. The 

lumber was all cut and fitted there and had 

only to be put together when it reached 

the island. 




The first good house that the missionaries 
had was buHt in Honolulu in 1821 — about 
a year after they landed. Some men in Bos- 
ton gave the house, and had all the lumber 
cut and fitted so it could be quickly and easily 
set up. A ship called the "Tartar" brought 
it to Honolulu, and the men soon had it put 
together. Then the big mission family moved 
in. They were very happy to have this clean, 

(65) 



66 STRANGE PEOPLES AND CUSTOMS 

neat house, with windows and doors, and ceil- 
ings high enough so they could stand up 
straight in all the rooms. 

This old house, now nearly a hundred years 
old, is still standing; but it will not last many 
years more, as its boards and timbers have 
been badly eaten by insects. We visited it, 
and we went into all the rooms, and down into 
the dark old kitchen. We looked at the pic- 
tures of those first missionaries, ioo, that hung 
on the walls; and we were glad that God put 
it into their hearts to come to these beautiful 
islands. 

The missionaries learned the language of 
the people, and began to teach them to read 
and write. The king himself, and twenty- 
four of his chiefs, were among the first pupils. 
They not only learned to read, but they heard 
the good news of the gospel. The wife of a 
former king went through all the islands, and 
wherever she found any idols left, she caused 
them to be destroyed. 

THE BIBLE AND HYMN BOOKS 

In twenty years, the Bible was printed, and 
all the people who wished to do so could read 
it. There were schools in all the islands by 
that time, and churches too. Thousands and 
thousands of men and women who, a few 
years before, had never heard the name of 



MISSIONARIES IN HAWAII 67 

Jesus, had become followers of Him, and 
were glad to sing hymns in His praise. 

Some of them became missionaries, and 
carried the gospel to other islands. When the 
Bible was all printed, a day was set apart to 
honor the event. The king and the queen and 
all the members of the royal family, with a 
large company of their people, came together 
to hear the wonderful story told once more, 
to sing and pray, and to tell how happy they 
were to have the Bible in their own tongue 
and to be able to read it. 

Kanwealoha was an old, old man. He had 
been a heathen, but long ago he had given his 
heart to the Lord, and had become a mission- 
ary. Holding a copy of the Bible in his hand, 
he stood up before that great company, and 
said : 

"Not with powder and ball and swords and 
cannon, but with the living Word of God and 
His Spirit, do we go forth to conquer the 
islands for Christ." 

Great changes came to the people of the 
Hawaiian Islands after the coming of the 
missionaries. Before that time, they were al- 
most like slaves. If a chief wanted a man's 
sugar cane, he stuck his spear in one corner 
of the field. Then the man who had planted 
it would not dare touch it. 



68 STRANGE PEOPLES AND CUSTOMS 

In twenty years, all this was changed. 
Every man could own land, if he wished to 
work and buy it, and no one could take it 
from him, or what he raised on it. 

But the greatest change was the interest of 
the people to hear the gospel. They came in 
crowds, fathers, mothers, and children, to lis- 
ten while the Bible was read to them in their 
own speech. 

Those were busy days, but they were happy 
days, too. When the missionaries looked at 
the people who had come to hear their words, 
I think they must have thought often of the 
multitudes who used to follow Jesus from 
place to place to hear His teaching. There 
were all kinds of people in those companies 
— chief men and poor men, the sick and the 
lame, the blind and the deaf, the old and 
feeble, the young and strong. There were 
men who had been priests in the old days, and 
men who had been robbers, and men who had 
taken the lives of others. They all came to 
hear how Jesus died to save sinners — and that 
meant them. Many became Christians. 

A BRAVE HAWAIIAN PRINCESS 

Kapiolani lived on the largest island — Ha- 
waii. She was a descendant of the ancient 
kings, but she was not at all what we should 
expect a princess to be like. She was dirty. 



MISSIONARIES IN HAWAII 69 

and ignorant, and wicked, and — she often 
got drunk. 

But Kapiolani heard of Jesus. She loved 
Him, and gave her heart to Him, and this 
made a great difference in her life. She de- 
stroyed idols wherever she could find them — 
for there were still a few left in the homes of 
the people. She cared for the sick with her 
own hands. She gave up drinking liquor, and 
went about doing good. Her home was made 
clean and neat, and her manners became kind 
and polite. 

Many of the Hawaiians still believed in the 
dreadful goddess Pele, who lived, so they said, 
in the great crater Kilauea. They were afraid 
of Pele, and offered sacrifices to her. 

But Kapiolani was no longer afraid of 
Pele. She knew there was no such goddess. 
But this was not enough. She thought and 
thought what she could do to show her people 
that Pele had no power. At last she said: 

"I will go up and stand on the edge of the 
great crater. Then the people will know 
there is no Pele." 

"Do not go, Kapiolani," begged her hus- 
band. 

"Do not go, Kapiolani," urged her people. 

"I must go," she made answer. "I fear not 
Pele. Jehovah alone is my God. If I am 
killed, then you may believe in Pele; but if 



70 STRANGE PEOPLES AND CUSTOMS 

nothing happens to me, you must believe in 
the true God." 

So Kapiolani went on, and many people 
watched her go. They thought the angry 
goddess would surely kill her. 

But she went safely all the way. On the 
edge of the crater, she threw stones down into 
the red-hot mass, and the people expected to 
see her fall down dead. Then she ate some 
of the sacred berries that no one was allowed 
to touch; still nothing happened. 

Then she called on her people to worship 
the true God, who made all things ; and many 
fell on their knees and prayed, and rose up 
to sing His praise. 

The people on the island had little money, 
but they willingly gave what they had. They 
brought food to the missionaries and to the 
girls' school, and they worked hard to build 
churches and chapels. 

HEATHEN TEMPLES BUILT INTO CHURCHES 

When the large stone church called Ka- 
waiahao Church, was built in Honolulu, some 
of the great blocks of coral that went into its 
walls were brought from old heathen temples. 
Others were quarried from a coral reef out in 
the sea. The lime was made from coral, too, 
which was brought up from the bottom of the 
sea by divers, and then carried seven miles to 
the church. The timbers came from the for- 




The oldest church in the islands contains some blocks of coral in its 
walls that were brought from old heathen temples. 



ests on the mountains, and were dragged to 
the place by long lines of men and women. 

When the logs were hewn and ready, two 
lines of men and women would take firm hold 
of long ropes fastened to them, ready to pull 
as hard as they could. One man was the 
leader. When he called out, "Grasp the 
ropes! Bow the head! Blister the hands! 
Go! Sweat!" away they went, singing and 
shouting, over rocks and through mud and 
across streams, stopping for nothing. 

Then the leader would shout: "Halt! Drop! 
Drag ropes! Rest!" and they would all stop 
to get their breath, ready for the next pull. 

(7i) 




A Hawaiian Boy 



I think the people who worked so hard for 
their church must have loved it very much 
when it was finished; don't you? The church 
was dedicated in July, 1844. 

As the years passed, and more and more 
boats stopped at Honolulu on their way back 
and forth across the wide Pacific, many people 

(72) 



MISSIONARIES IN HAWAII 73 

came to live on the beautiful islands. Some 
came from Japan, and some from China, and 
some from America, and some from other 
places. Now there are more of these peoples 
living in the islands than of the Hawaiians 
themselves. They have schools and churches 
and cities and street cars and automobiles. 

Twenty years ago the people living on the 
islands said, "We would like to belong to the 
United States." So the islands were annexed, 
or taken into the family of the United States, 
as a sort of younger sister. 

Nearly thirty-five years ago two men, Mr. 
Scott and Mr. La Rue, came to the Hawaiian 
Islands to tell the people the good news that 
Jesus is soon coming. Elder William Healey 
came a little later, and held some tent meet- 
ings. Other men and women have come since 
then to work for the people, and now there 
is a good sized company in Honolulu who look 
for His coming. Every Sabbath, they meet 
in a pleasant little church, to sing and pray 
and to have Sabbath school. There is a 
church school, too, for the children. We hope 
that when Jesus comes, there will be many 
from these islands who will welcome Him 
with joy. 




CHAPTER VI 



A COUNTRY 

OF 

ISLANDS 



AGAIN we are westward bound, every 
day now sailing farther and farther and 
farther from Hawaii. There is no land 
in sight anywhere. In the morning, as far 
as we can see, there is only water. At noon 
it is the same. And at night the sun sinks 
down into the sea like a great red ball. The 
days are all the same — nothing but water 
everywhere. 

We have come three thousand miles on the 
big Pacific Ocean now. New York is very 
far away. San Francisco too. Even the 

(74) 






In Japan everybody 
bows. When two 
friends meet, they 
both bow very low 
and gracefully sev- 
eral times. At each 
bow, they say some- 
thing very polite, us- 
ing many words that 
speak of one's self as 
humble and the other 
person as very great 
and honorable. 



beautiful Hawaiian Is- 
lands are a week be- 
hind us. We do not 
pass many boats; it is 
very exciting to see 
one. To pass the time, 
the children toss bean 
bags, and run races on 
the deck, and play hide 
and seek in the social 
hall. Some of them 
swim in the great can- 
vas tank that is filled each day with fresh 
sea water. 

Every day, we are three hundred miles 
farther away from home, and three hundred 
miles nearer our next stopping place, Japan. 

"the island empire" 
Japan is a country of islands. Sometimes 
it is called "the Island Empire." These is- 
lands form a great chain, two thousand miles 
long. If we were to think of the islands as 

(75) 





Japan and Chosen 



beads on a long thread, how many do you 
suppose we should have to count if we counted 
them all? Nearly four thousand! 

And such queer names I Hondo, Khishu, 
Shikoku, and Hokkaido are the four largest. 

Look at the map, and you will see this 
curving line of islands. What does it look 
like, to you? Some persons think it looks 
like an archer's bow; others say it is like a 
lovely necklace, but to me it looks most like 
three embroidered scallops on Sister's best 
dress. 

The Japanese love their beautiful country, 
and think it more wonderful than any other. 
In poetry, they call it Yamato; but in every- 
day talk, they call it Dai Nippon, which 
means Great Sunrise. From this name, we 

(76)' 



A COUNTRY OF ISLANDS 77 

call Japan the Sunrise Kingdom, and some- 
times the Land of the Rising Sun. 

Japan has two flags. Both these flags are 
white; one has a plain red ball on it, and the 
other a red ball with rays. Both these balls 
represent the sun. You can easily see that 
the Japanese, who love their country so truly, 
are very fond of their flag. On holidays thou- 
sands of these flags flutter on long streamers 
above the low schoolhouses. If you should 
see a ship sailing up the Hudson River some 
day, with a white flag and a red ball on it, you 
would know at once that it had come from the 
far-off Land of the Rising Sun. 

One more name that the Japanese have for 
their country is this: "Toyo-ashi wara-no chi- 
io-no akino, mizu-ho no-kuni." This name 
means, so I am told by a Japanese lady, "The 
Luxuriant Reed Plains, the Land of Fresh 
Rice Ears of Such Good Crop that One 
Thousand Five Hundred Autumns Come at 
Once." But this must be a kind of dress-up 
name ; it is surely too long for everyday use. 
The Japanese often shorten this name to the 
words, "Toyo-ashi wara-no mizu-ho no-kuni," 
which would be, "The Luxuriant Reed Plains, 
the Land of Fresh Rice Ears." 

japan's sacred mountain 

Japan is a land of mountains, many of 
them very high. But the most beautiful 




"Like a great 
inverted fan" 
stands Fujisan. 
Thousands of 
summer pil- 
grims worship 
the rising 
sun from 
its submit. 



mountain, and the one the Japanese people 
love best of all, is Fujisan, generally called 
Mount Fuji. They have many stories about 
it; and every year, thousands of pilgrims 
climb to the top, and worship in the temples 
along the way. 

If the day is clear, passengers on ships 
coming into the harbor at Yokohama may get 
a fine view of Fujisan; but often the moun- 
tain top is wreathed in mists and clouds that 
hide it from view. Often, too, it may be seen 
from the train; people are always looking out 
the windows to catch a glimpse of Fujisan, 
and they are very happy indeed if they see its 
lovely outline rising high up against the sky. 

Japan does not have many thunderstorms, 
but it often has earthquakes. It is not uncom- 
mon to feel the house tremble, or the bed 
shake at night; but these small earthquakes 
do little harm. Sometimes there is a big 
"quake." Then the earth opens in great 

(78) 



A COUNTRY OF ISLANDS 



79 



cracks; houses are thi'own down; railway 
tracks are twisted and bent; and sometimes 
thousands of people are killed. 

THE WATERS OF JAPAN 

Japan's rivers are neither very long nor 
very deep. They are wide, compared with 
their length ; but compared with such rivers as 
the Amazon in South America, and the Yang- 
tze in China, they are not wide after all. 
Most of the year, they are only rivers of sand 
and pebbles and bowlders. Sometimes a nar- 
row ribbon of water winds in and out among 
the stones on its way to the sea. In the rainy 
season, the water comes tumbling down the 
hillsides, filling the river beds to overflowing. 
Often the water floods the lowlands, and does 
great damage. 




Little boats bringing country produce down to the city 
and carrying supplies back. 





j^^ mIp" ^ ' M 




When I inquired about the 
Ainu in Hokkaido, the north- 
ernmost island of Japan, a 




MwM 


L 


Japanese, with customary 
courtesy, offered to go out 
of his way to guide me to 
their village. We found them 




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^A 


living in little wooden huts. 




f^K, 


with bear cages near, and 




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lj^& 


cubs playing about in the 




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yards. They are worshipers 






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of the bear, and hold a bear 




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festival once each year. These 




S!j\^ 


aborigines have a legend of 




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^^m 


the Flood. The men wear 




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heavy black beards ; and the 

women, using soot, tattoo 

mustaches on their lips. 




^^M 


w 





Lake Biwa is the one large lake in Japan, 
but there are a few small ones. 

Japan has lovely flowers. In the spring 
comes the plum and the peach and the double 
pink cherry blossoms, with wisteria hanging in 
fragrant, graceful plumes from hundreds of 
trellises, hydrangeas in the gardens, and aza- 
leas flaming from every hillside. Wherever 
one goes through Japan in spring and sum- 
mer, one catches bright glimpses of wild 
flowers. 

Japan has many large, busy cities, many 
big towns, and many small villages. In the 
crowded cities, many families live in a single 
house, just as they do in New York; but in 
the country, there are many little homes in 
the green fields. Often there is a small cluster 

(80) 



A COUNTRY OF ISLANDS 



81 



of houses where a number of families live, 
or a number of small families that are a part 
of one large family. In the morning, they go 
to the fields to work ; and at evening, they 
return home to eat and rest. In the olden 
days, the people lived in groups, in order 
better to defend themselves against wild ani- 
mals and robbers. 

A LITTLE OF JAPAN's HISTORY 

You remember how Columbus found the 
New World, and how, after him, many men 
sailed across the sea in ships to see what they 
could find — new lands, and precious stones, 
and always, more than anything else, gold 
and silver. 



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Cherry trees in the parks and by the roadside are grown purely 
for their profuse blossoms. 



82 STRANGE PEOPLES AND CUSTOMS 

li^rom the very first, these men wrote about 
when they started, and what they found, and 
the places where they built houses. If they 
stayed long anywhere, and if the native people 
were friendly, they wrote that down. If they 
had battles with the natives, — and I am sorry 
to say there was a great deal of fighting going 
on, first and last, — they never failed to write 
all about that. 

All this written story about the things that 
have happened in a country is its history. 
Our own country is young. It is only a little 
over four hundred and twenty-five years since 
Columbus started off on his famous voyage. 
Some countries, like Egypt, have a written 
history that goes back for thousands of years. 
We call these countries old. 

Japan is an old country, if we compare its 
history with that of America. Hundreds of 
years before Columbus was born, history of 
some sort was written in Japan. 

Every people have some story about how 
the world was made. If they do not know 
and believe the beautiful true story, told in the 
Bible, they invent stories of their own. 

This is the way it was in Japan. I^ong, 
long ago, men told these stories to their chil- 
dren; and these children grew up and told 
them to other children, and so on. 

By and by a man named Are, who had a 
wonderful memory, loved to hear these old 




Why shouldn't they look pleasant, with such a fine grandson to care 
for while his parents are out in the paddy fields working? 

stories. He went up and down through the 
country, and listened to the tales told by 
the old men in the villages and in the coun- 
try places and in the busy towns. And he 
remembered all that he heard, so that after 
a while, he could tell them himself as well 
as any one else. 

In time, Are himself grew old. The em- 
press heard of him, and of the wonderful 
stories he could tell, all about Japan. She 
sent a man named One Yasumaro to write 
them all down in a book, so they could be kept 

(83) 



84 STRANGE PEOPLES AND CUSTOMS 

always. This book is called "Kojiki," which 
means "The Record of Ancient Things." 
The Japanese believe these stories, and the 
children read them in the queerest looking 
books in the world. I will tell you the Japa- 
nese story of how the sun came to be, so you 
can see what these stories are like. 

STRANGE BELIEFS 

Long ago, the sun goddess became angry; 
so she ran away and hid in a cave, and rolled 
a great stone in front of it, in order that not 
a ray of light could get out. Then all the 
earth became dark, and the other gods and 
goddesses tried to think of a way to get her 
to come out of the cave, so they could have 
light again. 

By and by one of them began to dance, and 
she danced so long and so wildly that the rest 
began to laugh. 

This was too much for the sun goddess in 
her cave. She had thought the others would 
be very unhappy if she went away, and not 
feel at all like laughing. And here they were 
having a good time without her. Very care- 
fully she rolled the stone back a little to peep 
out. 

This was what the others had been watching 
for. Quick as a wink, one of the gods jumped 
behind her, and shut the cave, and would not 
let her in again. She has had to stay out ever 



' A COUNTRY OF ISLANDS 85 

since, and shine on Japan, the Land of the 
Rising Sun. 

The Japanese believe, too, that the sun is 
ruled by a goddess named Amaterasu ( Heaven 
Shiner), from whom the imperial family is 
descended. 

It seems sad to think that people believe 
such foolish tales, but many of them have 
never heard of the One who made the earth 
and the sun and moon and stars. 

After the Kojiki was written, many other 
books were made; and from that day to this, 
men have kept a record of Japan's kings, and 
her soldiers, and her wars. 

Columbus had heard of this wonderful 
country of Japan. He called it Cipango ; and 
when he sailed away with his three ships from 
Palos in Spain, he hoped to sail right up to 
these islands. But this, as you know, he did 
not do. 

THE FIRST CATHOLIC MISSIONARY 

About fifty years after Columbus found 
the New World, a Catholic missionary went 
to India and started a school. A young Japa- 
nese man came to this school ; and by and by 
he went back to Japan, and three Catholic 
missionaries went with him. Francis Xavier 
was the name of one of these priests. Very 
soon many of the Japanese changed from 
their heathen worship to the worship of the 



86 STKANGE PEOPLES AND CUSTOMS 

Catholic saints and images. But they did not 
all understand about the love of Jesus, and 
their need of putting away sin and leading 
pure lives. 

For a time, all went well. But finally 
the Catholic priests who had come to Japan 
began to burn the Buddhist temples, and to 
put the Buddhist priests to death. Then the 
Japanese rose up against the new faith. They 
were many, and the men who had come to the 
island as missionaries were few; so before 
long, the Japanese had killed nearly all of 
them. Some were sent away, and others fled. 
That was a sad day; the name of Jesus, which 
should be the dearest name in every land, was 
despised and hated and loathed in Japan. 

The king of the country made a decree, as 
the kings we read about in the Bible used 




"So long as the sun shall warm the earth let no Chris- 
tian be so bold as to come to Japan." Even the "great 
God of all, if He violate this command, shall pay for 
it with His head." This and other startling notices 
were posted at every prominent place in Japan until 
recent times. 



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A hill-climbing jitney. The "iJer\ice station" is some 
mountain tea house. 



to do. "So long as the sun shall warm the 
earth," this decree said, "let no Christian be 
so bold as to come to Japan." If any one 
came, even a king, he should be put to death. 

So the country was shut up. No ships from 
distant lands were allowed to come into her 
lovely harbors; no people of Western coun- 
tries were allowed to live in her cities and 
towns. Japan was like a beautiful garden 
that is fenced all around with a high, strong 
wall. The people inside did not want to see 
out, and the people outside could not get in. 

But there was, so to speak, a door in the 
wall around Japan — not a big one, and not 

(87) 



88 STRANGE PEOPLES AND CUSTOMS 

open very wide; still it was large enough to 
let other nations know just a little about 
Japan. 

What was the door? It was a small island 
in the harbor of Nagasaki. On this island, 
a few men from Holland were allowed to live. 
Here they brought dishes and cloth and other 
things to sell to the Japanese ; and the Japa- 
nese brought to them the things they were 
willing to give in exchange. For more than 
two hundred years, these Dutch "traders" 
came to Japan; and though they had to sta}'^ 
on the one little island, and could not go into 
the city, still the Japanese learned something 
about the great, busy world so far away; and 
the great, busy world learned a little about 
Japan. 

After a while, the laws that were like a 
strong, high wall around Japan were changed. 

JAPAN OPENS HER DOORS 

For more than two hundred years, the rul- 
ers of Japan kept the ships and men from 
Western nations out of her harbors and cities. 

But no country can be shut up to itself in 
these days, because it is God's plan that the 
good news of the second coming of Jesus shall 
go to every nation and every people. 

So the time came, by and by, when the 
gi^eat nations of the world said: Japan must 
open her ports, and let our ships come to her 



A COUNTRY OF ISLANDS 89 

harbors. She must be friendly, and treat our 
sailors with kindness. All this was helping to 
carry out God's plan. 

In 1853 the president of the United States 
sent Commodore Perry with four gunboats to 
carry a letter to the mikado, as the king of 
Japan is called. 

In this letter, the president asked that 
American ships might stop at Japan to buy 
coal and to take on fresh water. He also 
asked that if Japanese sailors should find 
shipwrecked American sailors, they should 
treat them kindly, and help them to get home 
again. On her part, America promised to do 
the same for Japanese sailors. 

The mikado was not very pleased to receive 
this letter; and for a time, he would not 
answer. 

Commodore Perry waited a few days. 
Then he turned his ships about, and sailed 
away. "I will come back next year," he said, 
"and get the answer then." 

In a few months, he was back again. This 
time, he had eight ships instead of four. 
And the mikado, who had thought it all over, 
said, "Yes, boats from America may come to 
two ports." In due time, all the*^ promises 
that America made to Japan, and that Japan 
made to America, were written down very 
carefully, and signed and sealed. 



90 STRANGE PEOPLES AND CUSTOMS 

In his boats, Commodore Perry had brought 
to Japan presents of many things that Ameri- 
cans were using, but which were not then used 
in Japan. There were lamps and sewing ma- 
chines, and a telegraph outfit. The thing you 
would have liked best, I dare say, was a little 
train, with engine, cars, and track, all com- 
plete. The track w^as laid, the engine coupled 
to its cars, a fire built in the engine, and away 
it went. 

That was the first train in Japan, but not 
the last one by any means. Now they have 
thousands of cars, and neat railway stations, 
and boys with red caps to carry your baggage, 
just as at home. 

PREPARING JAPAN FOR MISSIONARIES 

Very soon then Japan took her place among 
other great nations. England and France 
sent ships and signed treaties, and soon any 
one who wished to visit Japan could do so. 

All this was preparing the way for the mis- 
sionaries, who would come to tell the people 
about Jesus. 

The Japanese are a "little people." That 
is, most of them are shorter than the men in 
America and Europe. Some of the women, 
especially the older women, are very tiny. I 
have seen little, old, wrinkled grandmothers 
in Japan that I could very easily have picked 
up under one arm. They were no taller than 



A COUNTRY OF ISLANDS 91 

many a ten-year-old girl at home. Xowadays 
all the boys and girls have dumb-bells and 
other exercises in school. They march and 
run and jump and play ball, and are very 
nimble and quick. All this will help them to 
grow straight and tall. 

It is hard for us to sit Japanese fashion — 
but not so hard for children as for grown-ups. 
Look at this lady in the picture, then sit down 
just the way she sits. How do you like it, 
after three minutes? My, it makes your 
muscles cramp, doesn't it? But I have decided 
that it must be restful to the Japanese. In a 
railway train, I have seen a serious-looking 
woman, when she was tired of sitting as we 
sit on the seat, double up Japanese style, and 
read a book for hours. Even the babies sit 
this way as soon as they are old enough to 
sit at all. 





Wf. . Ja .*Si 



^^^'■^■'^l ^. 




3:^^ 



These sweet-faced girls love dolls as well as anybody. They dress 
them in kimonos and "mother" them on their backs. 



CHAPTER VII 

CHILDREN OF JAPAN 

JAPAN is a great country for children. 
There are babies everywhere, and tod- 
dlers, and then little folks, and bigger, 
and so on up to the size that is just ready to 
be grown up. We meet these children in the 
country lanes, in the villages, and in the 
towns; they throng the city streets, overflow 
the tiny houses, and travel by hundreds and 
thousands on the trains, going to school and 
home again. In the school playgrounds, we 
see them marching and dancing and swinging 
Indian clubs. They play ball, too, and tennis, 
and other games. 

You have seen pictures of Japanese babies 
carried on the backs of their older brothers 
and sisters. I had, often. Still I couldn't help 
fearing that the little things would get a 

(92) 



CHILDREN OF JAPAN 



93 



tumble, the first time I saw them swaying 
and jiggling while their small nm-ses ran here 
and there at some game. But the babies seem 
to like it. Often a little girl will get a baby 
to sleep by gently dancing up and down, the 
baby's head bobbing and bobbing and bobbing 
like a heavy flower on a slender stem. 

This way of carrying little babies is very 
bad for their eyes, for the bright sun often 
shines in them for hours. Many children have 
become blind from this cause. 

The other day, I saw such a tiny baby, all 
wrapped up in padded kimonos (for the day 
was cool), on the back of a little girl who was 
hardly more than a baby herself ; she could not 




'Our umbrella is made of paper; but it keeps our kimonos nice 
and dry, because it is oiled paper." 




The flooded fields are thoroughly worked over. When the rice plants 

are still tender shoots, all hands turn in on the transplanting. The 

sheaves are carried in on the sturdy shoulders of farm girls as well 

as men. At last the grain is threfthed with a flail. 

(94) 



CHILDREN OF JAPAN 95 

have been more than three years old. She 
was so tiny that when the baby was fastened 
on her back, she could not possibly get up on 
her feet alone. But when her mother helped 
her up, she could walk around. 

Every time she moved, I put out my hands 
to catch the baby, for I was sure she would 
fall. The mother and the grandmother smiled 
to see how worried I was. 

children's dresses in japan 

In Japan, when we see a tiny black-headed 
baby in a gay red kimono, we know that it 
is a little girl; for red is the little girls' color. 
I know a little boy in Japan who cried when 
his mother made him a red sweater, because 
he said the little boys laughed at him for wear- 
ing a girl's coat. If the baby has on a kimono 
with brown and purple and other sober hues, 
we know it is a little boy. 

Fathers and mothers in Japan love to buy 
soft, fine silk clothes for their children. When 
a child is born, boy or girl, it is the custom 
for the grandfather to make it a present of 
a set of beautiful silk dresses, or kimonos, 
called "ubugi," which means "the first wear." 
If a boy, the baby is taken to the temple in 
its ubugi to be presented when it is thirty days 
old. Girl babies are dressed in the ubugi and 
taken to the temple when they are thirty-three 
days old. 



96 STRANGE PEOPLES AND CUSTOMS 

Once I saw a baby boy's ubugi. It cost a 
great deal of money, for the silk was espe- 
cially woven and dyed for this little lad. The 
first kimono, worn inside, was plain white 
silk, very soft and fine; over that was a white 
kimono with large figures of a soft, light 
brown color; and over that was a kimono of 
very heavy silk, dyed black, with the crest of 
the family in white and black on the back, and 
on the sleeves, and in front. Usually the 
black kimono has the same figures on it that 
are on the kimono worn just beneath it. All 
these garments were long enough for a young 
man. 

More and more, in these days, the children 
of Japan are wearing little suits and dresses, 
with socks and sandals and shoes and caps 
and hats and coats. They do not look so 
much like pictures in these clothes, but they 
are surely much more comfortable. 

Many of the poorer Japanese do not have 
bathtubs in their tiny houses; but they are 
very fond of bathing, for all that. In every 
neighborhood, they have a bathhouse^ and here 
every one who wishes to do so may go to 
bathe. For a few copper coins, he can have 
water and soap, and a tiny scrap of cotton 
towel about as large as a napkin. Or he may 
bring his own soap and towels and little brass 
washdish if he chooses. 



CHILDREN OF JAPAN 97 

Sometimes the bathtubs in these public 
bathing places are made of wood, and look 
like the half of a large barrel; sometimes they 
are of cement or of marble, like a small swim- 
ming pool. There is plenty of hot and cold 
water. 

The bathers scrub well with soap, and rinse 
it off with clean water; then they climb into 
the deep tub, with water coming clear up to 
their chins, and soak as long as they wish. 
Afterward they may cool off with cold water. 

Mothers bring their children, even babies, 
to the bathhouse, scrub them with soap, rinse 
them off, and then dip them up and down in 
the warm water. When they have been dried 
with a soft towel, and sprinkled with fragrant 
powder, they are sweet and fresh and rosy, 
pictures of health and cleanliness. 

PARKS AND TEMPLES 

Japan is a pretty country, with its high 
mountains, and its pine-covered hills, and its 
green rice fields. There are lovely maple 
trees too, in many places, and giant ever- 
greens, which live to a great age. In the busy 
cities, all kinds of work is done in factories 
and mills and shops. Tokyo is the capital of 
Japan, and nearly three million people live 
there. The palace of the mikado is in Tokyo, 
and many government buildings also. Only 
two other great cities of the world — New 



CHILDREN OF JAPAN 9^ 

York and London — have more people than 
Tokyo. 

But even in the largest cities, where auto- 
mobiles rush along, and street cars filled to 
overflowing jangle their bells, we cannot for- 
get that we are in a land where the great mass 
of the people do not know and love the Lord 
Jesus. 

Yesterday we visited Uyeno Park. The 
Japanese usually have temples in their parks. 
This is because, in the old days, whenever a 
rich man wished to build a temple, he chose 
the prettiest place he could find — a green 
hill, or a high wooded place on the bank of a 
stream, or some spot from which there was a 
fine view. Later, when the cities opened 
parks for the people, they often took the land 
around these temples. There are a number 
of temples and shrines in Uyeno, besides a 
museum, a library, and other buildings. In 
the spring, the cherry blossoms here are like 
a lovely pink mist, and every one who can do 
so comes to Uyeno Park to walk among the 
trees and admire the delicate pink flowers. 

SCHOOLS AND HOLIDAYS 

All the children in Japan go to school. But 
they seem to have many holidays. Wherever 
we go to places of interest, we see Japanese 
school children by hundreds and sometimes 
by thousands. In Uyeno Park, yesterday, 



100 STRANGE PEOPLES AND CUSTOMS 

there were thousands and thousands of school 
children, all in uniforms, who had come to 
visit the temples and to look at a number of 
curious paintings that were shown in an art 
gallery. 

In Japan, all the school children wear a 
uniform. The girls wear kimonos, and a dark 
red skirt that reaches to their ankles and is 
tied around the waist. The boys wear kimo- 
nos, usually of black and white cotton figured 
material. They wear skirts, too, often of a 
brownish color; these are tied around their 
waists. Both the boys and the girls wear 
skirts outside their kimonos. The boys also 
wear caps, and they carry their books wrapped 
neatly in a square of cloth, or fastened at the 
end of a string, or packed in a bag, which is 
held under the arm by a strap passed over 
the shoulder. 

I have seen many a boy carefully carrying 
his ink bottle home at night, fastened to the 
end of a string. The little girls are almost 
always bareheaded, but sometimes with a 
pretty ribbon on their straight black hair. 

Most of the school children, boys and girls 
alike, wear the geta, which is a sort of wooden 
sandal, on raised pegs, and is held on the foot 
by a heavy cord that slips over the toes, with 
a fastening into the wood, between the first 
and second toes. On the nicer getas, a great 
deal of care is given to this cord, which is 



CHILDREN OF JAPAN 101 

made of silk or velvet, and sometimes is richly 
ornamented. 

You never heard such a clatter as a thou- 
sand Japanese school children make when 
walking along the street. And when they are 
running over the cement platforms at the rail- 
way stations, to get the best seats in the trains 
— dear, me! I couldn't tell j^ou what it does 
sound like. You would have to hear it. 

There is one good thing about these getas, 
though — they slip on and off very easily, 
and they do not come untied. The children 
take them off in a little hallway, and never 
wear them into the house. Even the wee 
girl I was telling you about, with the baby 
on her back, slipped out of her little red 
wooden getas when she wished to climb the 
one steep step up into the house. 

When the children of a school visit the 
parks and the temples, they often go some 
distance on the train, leaving home early in 
the morning, and getting back late at night. 
Their teachers go with them, and count them 
to see if they are all there, and form them in 
marching lines, and arrange them in groups 
for the picnic lunch of rice and perhaps a few 
little cakes. I never saw so many children 
eating a picnic lunch as we saw in Uyeno 
Park yesterday. 

Coming home, we went to Asakusa, a very 
famous temple, at the end of a long street. 




Asakusa is perhaps the busiest temple in all Japan. One of its 

idols, a red wooden one, has its nose and ears rubbed away by the 

many, many diseased persons who have come there for healing. 

God help us to tell the people of Jesus, the great Physician. 



On each side of the street were little stalls 
where all kinds of toys and sweetmeats were 
for sale. Big rubber balls and painted bal- 
loons and little aeroplanes and dolls and can- 
dies — almost everything you could think of 
that children would like to play with and to 
eat — I saw on that street. It was all gay 
and pretty — but to me, it was sad, for the 

(102) 



CHILDREN or JAPAN 103 

mothers and children walking up the street 
were going to the temple to bow down before 
images to pray. 

When we came to the temple itself, and 
went in, we saw many mothers with their chil- 
dren. They would clap their hands together 
to gain the attention of the god, and then 
repeat a prayer, some standing up, and some 
kneeling down. Often the mothers would 
have the children kneel, and bow very low, and 
softly tump their foreheads on the floor. 

Nearly every one who came left an offering, 
tossing it into a great box in front of the im- 
age. We watched the people five minutes 
and counted the offerings. There were one 
hundred and ^re in five minutes. Many 
mothers gave their children little coins to toss 
into the box, and the children seemed to enjoy 
this part of it. 

HOLIDAYS IN JAPAN 

I must tell you just a little about the holi- 
days of Japan. It is said that in the old 
times, there were three hundred and sixty-five 
holidays of one sort and another in a year. 
That would be almost like having Christmas 
and Fourth of July all the year round, 
wouldn't it? But of course the people had to 
work, too, and many of them were very poor; 
so in spite of the number of holidays, not 
everybody could have been going to a picnic 
all the time. 



104 STRANGE PEOPLES AND CUSTOMS 

First of all came the New Year holidays, 
which the Japanese celebrate with feasting 
and merrymaking of all kinds. Gateways and 
doorways are decorated with evergreens and 
flowers; little bamboo and pine trees, bound 
with ropes of braided straw, are set in front 
of the homes, and various emblems of good 
luck and long life are fastened on the lintel 
of the door. Friends send presents to one 
another; sometimes a great deal of money is 
spent in this way that is needed for other 
things. Januar}^ 1, 2, and 3 are the more im- 
portant New Year holidays, but the holiday 
season does not end till the sixteenth of the 
month. 

January 16 is a pleasant day for all boys 
in Japan who have been hired out to a master 
to learn a trade. Such boys we call appren- 
tices, and January 16 is the day when all 
apprentice boys may go home to visit their 
parents and brothers and sisters. In July 
there is another holiday for apprentices. 

WORSHIP or BUDDHA 

In Aj)ril little images of the infant Buddha 
are set up in the temples, and the people wor- 
ship them. They pour a certain kind of tea 
over these images, paying a little money to 
the priests; often they buy some of the tea, 
and take it home with them to drink. They 
believe it will cure them of certain ailments. 



CHILDREN OF JAPAN 105 

Sometimes they put it near the foundation 
pillars of the house, to keep out ants and 
other insects. 

In the old days, the fifteenth of November 
was the time when little boys and girls who 
had reached the age of three need no longer 
have their heads shaved, but might let their 
hair grow. But in these times, this "hair- 
leaving" festival is not often observed, because 
the old custom of shaving the heads of babies 
and little children is followed less and less. 

From July 13 to 16 a great Buddhist fes- 
tival, sometimes called the Feast of Lanterns, 
is held. On the first day of the feast, the 
people visit the graves of their ancestors ; and 
it is their belief that the spirits of these dead 
relatives return home with them, and stay for 
three days. During this time, dainty food and 
lovely flowers are placed before the ancestral 
tablets. Food is also offered to the spirits who 
have no one to perform this service for them. 

When the feast is ended, all these offerings, 
and the flowers that have been used, are taken 
to the river or the sea, and the spirits are sup- 
posed to go back to their graves with these 
things. When a member of the family has 
died during the year, a tiny house or boat is 
made, and set afloat on the sea or the river, 
and it is thought that the spirit goes back to 
the grave in it. 



106 STRANGE PEOPLES AND CUSTOMS 

I must tell you that the ancestral tablets are 
usually small, thin pieces of wood, with the 
names of the grandfathers and grandmothers 
of the family for many years back written on 
them. The father and the mother and the 
children set offerings of food before these 
tablets at certain times, and worship them. 
If any one refuses to worship the ancestral 
tablets, — and of course any one who accepts 
Jesus can no longer worship his parents and 
grandparents, — he is held to be guilty of a 
great crime. He may even be sent away from 
home, and never allowed to return to it as 
long as he lives. 

In Tokyo a festival called ^'opening the 
river" comes at this same time. Thousands 
of boats sail on the river, and at night the 
bridges are gayly decorated, and the river 
banks are bright with great numbers of lan- 
terns of every color. Peddlers go here and 
there selling sweets and flowers and toys, and 
jugglers and acrobats do their tricks. There 
are fireworks, too, with rockets shooting high 
up in the air, and fiery dragons twisting 
swiftly across the dark sky. 

THE HOLIDAYS LOVED BEST 

But the holidays the children enjoy most 
of all are the Feast of the Dolls, or the Peach 
Fete, as it is called, for girls; and the Iris 
Fete, which is a great day for little boys. 



CHILDREN OF JAPAN 107 

The Feast of the Dolls begins on the third 
day of March. In the very best room in the 
house, shelves or little tables are set up, and 
covered with red cloth. On them are placed 
the dolls. 

Some of these dolls have been kept in the 
family for years and years. If they can 
afford it, every family buys a new doll each 
year; and as these dolls are kept very choicely, 
it is easy to see that in the course of years 
there would be many of them. If a family 
has been rich for many years, there will be 
dolls enough to fill a number of shelves. All 
these dolls are beautifully dressed. 

Nearly always there is at least one group 
that represents the emperor and the empress 
in old-style court costume. Xear by may be 
the court musicians. Sometimes, in a large 
collection, there may be two or three groups 
representing kings and queens, each with their 
attendants. All these have their own furni- 
ture, and even little palanquins, and oxcarts, 
and dishes, and toilet articles. 

Besides these, the family has many baby 
dolls, which are dressed just like babies, with 
all kinds of bright- colored crepe dresses. 

The royal dolls are given the place of honor, 
and preside over the feast. Before all the 
dolls are tiny tables, set with the prettiest 
little "doll dishes" you ever saw, and in them 
are placed bits of dainty food. 




Japanese farmers are adepts at growing rice in their flooded paddy 
fields. The little mothers cook it very daintily in their earthen or 
iron kettles. But when it comes to final consumption of this staple, 
no one can surpass in skill and dispatch the boy whose game of "basu 
bawni" has been interrupted just long enough for a hasty meal. 

At the time of the Feast of the Dolls, every 
one wears his best clothes. The little girls 
look much like bright butterflies with their 
new gay-colored kimonos with long sleeves 
for wings, their beautiful wide obi, or sashes, 
and gay silken ribbons or sweet-smelling flow- 
ers in their dark hair. Their friends come to 
call, and to look at the dolls and eat the little 
cakes. A special sweetish drink also is served. 

(108) 



CHILDREN OF JAPAN 109 

In the old days, this pretty festival was a 
kind of emperor worship ; but now it is kept 
up to give the children pleasure. 

The Feast of the Dolls lasts three days. 
When it is all over, the dolls are wrapped in 
soft paper, and carefully put away in a safe 
place again. Often they are kept in fireproof 
storehouses. 

The Boys' Festival comes on the fifth of 
May. No one who is in a city of Japan, or 
riding on a train through the country, can 
possibly fail to remember that Japan has a 
boys' holiday. In front of every house where 
a little boy lives, a pole is set up, and from 
the top of it a great fish, made of paper or of 
thm cloth, is fastened. Some of these fish are 
black and white, and some are red and white. 
Their mouths are held open with a hoop of 
baniboo; and every little breeze fills their 
bodies, and causes them to float and "swim" 
in the most lifelike manner. These fish are 
not all the same size; some of them are four or 
five feet in length, others are shorter. I have 
counted as many as eight of these cloth or 
paper fish flying from one pole. That would 
show that there were eight boys in that house. 
And a Japanese family having eight sons is, 
according to their idea, a very happy familv 
indeed. 

These paper and cloth fish represent the 
carp, a fish that lives to a great age, and is 



110 STRANGE PEOPLES AND CUSTOMS 

a very strong swimmer. It can even swim 
against the current of a swift river, and mount 
waterfalls, like the salmon of the west coast 
of America. By hanging out these paper or 
cloth fish, the parents are saying that they 
hope their boys will be strong and brave, able 
to do well in hard places, and that they will 
live a long time. 

A special kind of rice dumplings, of which 
Japanese boys are very fond, is made for this 
day. Drums and helmets and banners and 
spears are sold in the shops. There are all 
sorts of little soldiers, too, marching in neat 
rows, or riding on horses, or standing at 
attention. These soldier figures, with their 
swords and guns, are bought and placed on 
shelves and tables in the homes where there 
are boys. Often the boys form little compa- 
nies and march up and down. There are 
many parties and picnics, too. 

The Boys' Festival does not close with one 
day, but the fish are left swinging and sway- 
ing in the breeze, each fastened securely to its 
pole, for some time. Of course the sun and 
the rain and the wind spoil them in a few 
weeks, and then they are taken down. The 
fifth day of May always brings a fresh supply. 

I wonder if you think you would like to be 
a boy in Japan. Well, there are some things 
I might tell you that would make you think 
twice before deciding yes. 





Yonder go the ships between the 

ever watchful Shinto shrine, with 

its unique entrance, and the 

sentinel peak, sacred Fujisan, 

holding its pent-up deluges 

of molten lava. 




_^\^*^'/\ 




• . ""^jMB^^^^yj^^ 




^^^^^^^^^pJ^Up 


i^rt 


""'^Hpr' 


, "^rfi" 


^^^1 


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'J 



CHAPTER VIII 

MISSIONARIES IN JAPAN 

ALONG time ago, more than a thou- 
sand years, a Christian doctor came to 
Japan, and stayed in the court of the 
emperor. So even in those early years, the 
Japanese people must have heard the name 
of Jesus. 

(Ill) 



112 STRANGE PEOPLES AND CUSTOMS 

I have already told you how, in 1549, Fran- 
cis Xavier (pronounced Za'vier) and two 
other priests, with a Japanese who had ac- 
cepted the Christian faith, came to Japan, and 
began to tell the people about Jesus. But 
these men, and others who came later, wished 
to compel every one to be a Christian, even if 
he did not wish to be one. This made very 
bad feeling. 

By and by a strong king came to the throne 
in Japan, and he said that all the Christian 
missionaries must go away at once. The 
Japanese Christians must give up their new 
religion, too, and not believe it any more. 
More than a hundred Christian churches were 
destroyed, and all the missionaries were killed 
or driven out of the country. 

While it is true that many Japanese who 
became Christians did not really know much 
about the new religion, some of them were 
very brave and loyal, and truly loved Jesus. 
They were willing to suffer for Him, and 
some of them were burned, and died in other 
cruel ways. 

We are told that one little boy was burned 
to death rather than say that he would give 
up being a Christian. When the cords that 
bound him to the stake were burned away, he 
ran to his mother. "Look up to heaven," she 
told him; and he died there in her arms. For 
more than a hundred vears the Christians 



MISSIONARIES IN JAPAN 113 

were treated very cruelly. Many of them 
were killed. Notices were posted in the cities 
and towns warning people not to come to 
Japan for any reason. If sailors were ship- 
wrecked, they were not to land on the islands 
of Japan. If they did, they would be put 
to death. 

After a while the rulers were sure that there 
were no more Christians in Japan. But all 
the years that Japan was shut up, as I told 
you, as if it had a great wall around it, there 
were men and women, hundreds of them, who 
remembered the name of Jesus, and loved it. 
Some met in hidden places to worship Him. 
But they were very careful not to spread their 
precious secret abroad, as they would surely 
be killed if it became known. 

But the time came when every nation must 
hear the good news that Jesus is coming 
again. The Lord opened the way for the 
people of Japan to hear too. The rulers first 
allowed a few people to live in certain cities, 
and by and by men and women who loved 
Jesus came to teach the young Japanese to 
read English and to study other things. 
Some of these boys and girls learned the 
gospel, though for many years the teachers 
had to be very careful. 

Guido F. Yerbeck was one of the Christian 
teachers who went from America to Japan. 
There were still public notices against "the 




(114) 



MISSIONARIES IN JAPAN , 115 

evil sect called Christians," but Mr. Verbeck 
found ways to tell the people about Jesus. 
He worked for nearly forty years in Japan; 
and before he died, he had the joy of seeing 
thousands of Japanese boys and girls in Chris- 
tian schools, reading the Bible, and singing 
Christian hymns. He loved Japan and her 
people so much that he said, "If I had a hun- 
dred lives, I would give them all for Japan." 

A few years before Mr. Verbeck came to 
Japan, the king had set watchmen in the 
lovely harbor of Nagasaki to see that no one 
from other lands came to Japan. 

One of these watchmen was Murata Wa- 
kasa no Kami. One day while he was on duty, 
he saw a little dark thing on the water; and 
when his men brought it to him, he saw that 
it was a book. It was really a Bible, which in 
some way had been dropped into the water. 
Murata learned that it was a book that told 
about "the One who made all things." Then 
he heard that the Bible had been printed in 
the Chinese language, so he sent a man to 
China to buy a copy. This he read in secret. 

By and by Murata's younger brother came 
to Mr. Verbeck to school. And so, after a 
time, Murata learned more about Jesus, whom 
he already loved, and he gladly gave his heart 
to Christ. 

About this time, a young man came from 
Japan to Boston to study. The owner of the 




(116) 



MISSIONARIES IN JAPAN 117 

ship on which he sailed liked the lad, who 
was called "Joe," and he took him to be his 
son, and sent him to school. This young man, 
Joseph Hardy Neesima, as he was later called,' 
became a Christian; and when his school days 
were over, he went back to Japan to teach the 
people, and to tell them the Good News. 

In these days there are many Christian 
teachers and many mission schools in Japan, 
and thousands of Japanese have heard and 
read of Jesus, and how He gave His life to 
save those in every nation who would ffive 
their hearts to Him. 

I sometimes wonder if children who have 
been born in Christian homes remember to 
thank their loving heavenly Father that they 
are taught to love Jesus when they are little. 
A number of years ago a man who loved 
children came to Japan for a visit. He loved 
all children, but he especially loved the chil- 
dren whose fathers and mothers had died, and 
who had no one to take care of them. He had 
gathered hundreds and thousands of these 
children into homes, and had fed and clothed 
and taught them. 

This man's name was George Mueller, and 
his home was in England. When he was in 
Japan, they asked him to have his picture 
taken; and he said: "No; let one of your Jap- 
anese Christians found an orphanage. That 
will be my photograph." 



118 STRANGE PEOPLES AND CUSTOMS 

By and by a young man did that very thing. 
He did not have any money, but he trusted 
the Lord to supply what the children needed 
for food and clothes. 

There came a time when the rice was nearly 
all gone, and there was no money to buy any 
more. Many people in Japan at that time 
had very little food. There was no one they 
could ask to help them. 

The children ate their supper of thin rice 
gruel, and Mr. Ishii told them they could not 
have even that very long. Then he told them 
how, long ago, a poor man named Dobry, in 
Poland, had no money with which to pay his 
rent. It was winter, and the snow was deep, 
and it was bitter cold. The very next day, 
Dobry and his wife and little children would 
be turned out of doors, and they had no place 
to go. So they all knelt down and told Jesus 
about it ; and when they rose from their knees, 
they began to sing praises to the Lord. They 
believed He would help them. 

He did help them, in a very wonderful way. 
While they sang, there came a rap, tap, tap, 
at the window; and when Dobry opened it, a 
raven flew in, with a ring in its beak. The 
ring was worth a great deal of money. It be- 
longed to the king, who had lost it, and who 
was so glad to find it that he built a* new house 
for Dobry, and gave him other presents. And 
Dobry and his family did not forget that it 



MISSIONARIES IN JAPAN 119 

was the Lord who helped them in their houi' 
of need. 

When Mr. Ishii had told the children this 
story, he said that the same heavenly Father 
who had sent the raven with the ring to 
Dobry's window was able to help them. 

He was going out to a little graveyard to 
pray when supper was over, he said, and he 
invited as many of the children as wished to 
do so to come too. 

About thirty children went with him; and 
after he had prayed, Mr. Ishii left the place 
to attend a meeting, but some of the children 
stayed in the little graveyard to pray. 

And the Lord heard their prayer. Even 
while they were praying, a woman from an- 
other city came to the door of the orphanage 
and brought a little gift of money to buy food. 
The money had come from America. Mrs. 
Ishii sent word to her husband, and he told 
the people in the chapel. He had not told 
them of the need of the childi^en, and now, 
when they heard the story, they praised the 
Lord who hears and answers prayer. 

Our heavenly Father loves the childi^en in 
every land. And in all places, those who love 
and trust Him have His special care. He 
does not look at the color of their skin or eyes 
or hair, He does not look at the clothes they 
wear, but He looks at their hearts. If kind- 
ness and love are there. He is pleased. 




Cottages in the compound at the headquarters of our 
mission work in Japan. 



CHAPTER IX 

OUR MISSIONARIES IN JAPAN 

IN this chapter, I wish to tell you a little 
about our own mission work in Japan. 
The first man to come to this island 
empire to tell the people that Jesus is soon 
coming again was Mr. W. C. Grainger. 
With him was a young Japanese, Mr. T. H. 
Okohira, who came to help him. They opened 
a school, and soon about sixty young men 
were coming to study English. Of course 
they were taught the gospel too. 

When they had been there a year, a little 
church was organized. There was Sabbath 
school every Sabbath, and about sixty persons 

(120) 



OUR MISSIONARIES IN JAPAN 



121 



came. A little paper called Owari no Fuhiiin 
(The Gospel for the Last Days) began to 
be printed. 

By and by other missionaries came. They 
worked in the larger cities, and in some places 
in the country. It is very hard to buy land 
in Japan, for the Japanese law will not per- 
mit foreigners to buy it; but after a time a 
little piece of ground was rented in a suburb 
of Tokyo, and here a church has been built, 
and a printing office, and a school. There 
are some pleasant mission homes, too. 

Every Sabbath, the people meet in the little 
church near Ogikubo to have Sabbath school, 
and to hear God's Word read. The little boys 
and girls study the Sabbath school lessons, 
repeat the memory verses, and bring their 
birthday offerings, just the same as at home. 
They have the Picture Rolls, too, and the 
Memory Verse cards, but with such queer 
looking marks on them for words! 




122 STRANGE PEOPLES AND CUSTOMS 

It makes me happy to know that there are 
little children in Japan who love the Lord 
Jesus, and keep the Sabbath, and will be glad 
to see Him when He comes. 

A BOY WHO LOVED JESUS 

Iwao was born in a Japanese home. His 
father and mother are Christians ; but his 
grandfather, whom he dearly loved, worshiped 
according to the Japanese custom. He was 
a rich old man, and around his beautiful home 
was a garden filled with lovely flowers. He 
was very angry when Iwao's mother, who was 
his daughter, gave her heart to Jesus, and 
would no longer worship the ancestral tablets. 

Iwao loved Jesus. And he loved the Sab- 
bath. Every little boy in Japan must go to 
school when he is six years old, and the school 
is held six days in the week. On every day 
but Sunday, which is a holiday in Japan, 
there is school. 

Iwao did not wish to go to school on Sab- 
bath. When people said, "Iwao, are you 
going soon to school?" he would say, "Yes"; 
still he did not wish to go. By and by his 
father talked with the head man of the school, 
who said, "Iwao may be excused on Sabbath." 
Then the little boy was very happy. "I can 
go to school! I can go to school, and keep 
the Sabbath!" he said. He was so happy, he 
told the good news to the neighbors. 



OUR MISSIONARIES IN JAPAN 123 

Iwao's mother feared to have her gentle 
little son go to school. But he said: "Do not 
be troubled, mother. I will not learn bad 
things — only good things. If some one should 
strike me on my right cheek, I will turn my 
left cheek." 

One evening Iwao in his prayer thanked the 
Lord that he had escaped temptation that day. 

"What were you tempted to do, Iwao?" 
his mother asked. 

"I was tempted to throw mud at a servant 
through the window," he told her. Then he 
thought, "This is a thing I ought not to do," 
and he ran away as fast as he could. 

After a time little Iwao became very ill. 
His aged grandfather came often to see him. 
Iwao loved the old man. Often when fruit 
or flowers were brought to him, he would 
say: "Grandfather is old; he must have this. 
This is what grandfather needs." One day he 
said: "Mother, grandfather's birthday is com- 
ing. I will buy him a Bible and a songbook 
with my own money, then he can learn the 
gospel. That is the thing he ought to have." 

Iwao's grandfather loved to bring things to 
him. Only a few days before the little boy 
died, the old man brought a bowl of soup 
which he thought was very nourishing and 
would make the child strong. But though 
Iwao dearly loved his grandfather, and was 
grieved to displease him, still he would not do 




In response to our call at the 
entrance of a certain well- 
to-do home in Kagoshima, 
the white paper door slides 
back, and a quiet little old 
lady, kneeling on the clean 
mat floor, bows low before 
us, so low that her forehead 
touches the mat. It is Ogura 
San, the sister-in-law of Ad- 
miral Togo, and a strong 
pillar of the Seventh-day Ad- 
ventist church in her city. 



what he understood the Bible said he must 
not do. 

"Mother," he said softly, when his grand- 
father had gone, "I think I should not eat 
this. The Bible forbids it." 

"I must leave that to you," his mother said. 

"No, I will not eat it," said Iwao. "Pour 
it out at the root of the tree; then no one will 
be harmed by it." 

In a Japanese home it is the custom for the 
mothers and the sisters to have always a smil- 
ing face. But when Iwao's mother saw how 
sick her dear child was, her face was sad. 
One day he said, "Mother, please make a 
pleasant face to me;" and always after that 
she smiled to make him happy. 

Day by day the little boy grew more thin 
and pale. His grandfather was very sad. As 

(124) 



OUR MISSIONARIES IN JAPAN 125 

often as he could he came to see the child, and 
always he said to him: "Iwao, you are a wise 
little boy. I wish you to be a great man 
when you grow up, and to be honored in 
Japan. You must not be a Christian." 

The story Iwao loved best to hear was about 
Stephen, who, when he was being stoned to 
death, looked up into heaven and saw Jesus. 
He hoped to see Him too some day. Often 
he talked about Paul, the great missionary. 
On the very day that he was first to go to 
school he became unconscious, so that he no 
longer could see his mother's face or speak to 
her, and in three days he fell asleep. 

Jesus is pleased when children love Him. 
He said, "Suffer the little children to come 
unto Me, and forbid them not: for of such is 
the kingdom of God." And I believe that 
angels guard the place where Iwao rests, wait- 
ing for the glad day when He who loves all 
children will waken this little boy and give 
him endless life. 

We are sorry to leave the lovely land of 
Japan, with its dark green hills, and its beau- 
tiful valleys, and the calm waters of its peace- 
ful Inland Sea. At Shimonoseki, a very 
important town where many large ships are 
built every year, we stopped for a few hours. 

Boys and men were walking along the pier, 
calling out, "Dempo ! Dempo! Dempo!" One 
of them seemed to be saying, "Dempo! 




Our church at Wakamatsu is one of six that are giving the "glad 
tidings" to Japan. 

Dempo I got! Dempo I got!" Probably it 
oiily sounded like that to me; but anyway, 
these lads all had dempos to sell, and wished 
to get rid of them. 

(126) 



OUR MISSIONARIES IN JAPAN 



127 



A dempo is a lunch, put up in small square 
or oblong boxes, piled one on top of another. 
The boxes are made of very thin strips of 
white wood. One box may be filled with hot, 
white rice, and a second box may have grated 
fish to eat on the rice. There is usually one 
box divided into several little square spaces, 
each holding some kind of pickle or relish. 
With the dempo come a pair of new chop- 
sticks, wrapped in clean paper. Japanese 
children on the trains think it great fun to eat 
a dempo; and the children of the missionaries 
like them, too. 












^^^^p^s^Xi"" ' 


The elephants of Siam are 
very useful and valuable, a 
good one being worth a thou- 
sand dollars. 



CHAPTER X 

THE LAND OF SIAM 

THIS chapter finds us a long way from 
Japan, "the Island Empire," away down 
on the southeast corner of Asia. Yes- 
terday was Christmas. On Christmas Eve, 
the Chinese stewards on the boat trimmed 
the dining salon with flags of many nations, 
and paper wreaths, and a tiny tree. It was 
all in lovely order on Christmas morning. 

And the Christmas dinner, served in the 
evening, was very nice to look at, with candles, 
and "crackers" to snap — but nothing tasted 
like home! There are only eight first-class 

(128) 



THE LAND OF SI AM 129 

passengers on this boat; so even with the 
captain and the other officers, only two small 
tables were set. 

I wish all the passengers on the "Luchow" 
could have had something extra on some of 
these days. You see, though there are only 
eight first-class passengers, there are eight 
hundred who are not even second-class. They 
do not have cabins, with comfortable beds, or 
beds of any kind. At night they sleep under 
an awning on the deck. Persons who travel 
in this way are called "deck passengers." 

These deck passengers are Chinese. After 
leaving Hongkong, the "Luchow" went up 
to Swatow, on the Chinese coast, and took 
on eight hundred Chinese deck passengers. 
Most of these are men, who are going to 
Siam to work; but there are a few women 
and children. 

The Chinese are great workers ; and they go 
now, and have gone for many years, to Siam 
and other southern countries to earn money. 
It does not cost a great deal to be a deck pas- 
senger from Swatow to Bangkok, the capital 
of Siam; so if the Chinese do not like their 
new home, they can go back to the old one. 
However, very many stay. Perhaps you would 
not blame them, if you could see Swatow! 

It is very pleasant in the quiet Gulf of 
Siam, and we enjoy looking over the rail at 
the light green water. To our surprise we see 




SiAM, Malay Peninsula, Sumatra, BoriSeo, and the Phiuppines 



something we are not looking for — snakes! 
Some are not very long, pej-haps fifteen inches ; 
others look much longer. It is never wise to 
tell just how long a snake is unless one has 
measured it. -But one thing we are quite sure 
of — we do not wish to take a swim in the 
Gulf of Siam. 

The Menam is the great river of Siam. As 
its waters come down to the sea, they bring 

(130) 



THE LAND OF SIAM 181 

with them quantities of fine soil called "silt"; 
and where the river enters the gulf, this fine 
sand has been piling up for thousands of 
years. Of course a great deal of it is washed 
out by the tide, but enough remains to make 
a sandy bar over which large ships cannot pass. 

This sand could be dredged out, but the 
kings of Siam have not allowed it to be taken 
away. If it were not there, the battleships of 
other lands could steam right up to Bangkok. 

Small boats like the "Luchow" can slip 
over the bar at high tide; and so, after wait- 
ing a few hours for the water to be deep 
enough, we cross the bar. 

THE WORSHIP OF BUDDHA 

On a little island at the mouth of the river 
we see a beautiful pagoda, with a temple and 
other buildings near by. This is "the Shrine 
in the Middle of the Waters," and is the first 
of the temples of Siam to greet our eyes. 
With its tinted walls and graceful spire and 
overlapping colored roofs, all set in a back- 
ground of living green, it looks very lovely 
indeed as the morning sun shines upon it. 
But it reminds us that we are coming to a land 
where the people do not worship the true God, 
who made the heavens and the earth. 

The Siamese are Buddhists. That is, they 
worship Buddha, a man who is supposed to 
have lived about five hundred years before 



132 STRANGE PEOPLES AND CUSTOMS 

Jesus was born in Bethlehem. They have 
many strange and foolish stories about Bud- 
dha; and in Siam and other Eastern lands, 
thousands of temples are built in his honor. 

Sometimes a "relic," like a copy of a tooth, 
or a piece of bone, or a hair, is taken to some 
country from Siam, and a temple is built 
there for it. Only a few weeks ago we were 
in Nagoya, Japan, a very modern city, with 
wide streets and electric lights and all kinds 
of lovely things ; and we were told that such a 
temple, costing a great deal of money, had 
just been finished there. 

So we see that it takes more than some of 
these things we like so much to talk about, 
such as long trains of cars, and swift airships, 
and bright electric lights, to show that the 
True Light, who is Jesus, is in men's hearts. 
When that light is shining in the hearts of any 
people, idol worship of every kind and all rub- 
bish will be swept out. 

The river grows more narrow as we sail 
along; and oh, how it winds and twists and 
turns! We guess which way it will go next, 
and we are nearly always wrong! 

On each side the green growth, thick and 
jungle-like, comes down to the edge of the 
river. In front are the graceful attap palms, 
their long fronds bending over to dip in the 
muddy water. Back of them are coconuts, 
for the coconut loves the banks of rivers and 




Bangkok from the River Menam 



the quiet shores of little bays. And here and 
there, rising above all, with its cluster of red- 
dish brown fruit, is the tall, slender stem of 
an areca nut palm, or betel nut palm, as it is 
often called. 

Just now we are wondering where we shall 
go when we land; for though there are a few 
Chinese Sabbath keepers in Bangkok, they do 
not know we are coming, and if they should 
meet us, we could not talk with them! 

THE LAND OF THE WHITE ELEPHANT 

Finally our boat drew slowly up to the 
dock, and stopped, and we got off, feeling a 
little lonely. We thought we would go to see 
the American consul, and ask him to direct us 
to a good place to stay ; but the ricksha coolies 
took us to a hotel instead. And as it was 
Friday afternoon, and we wished to have a 
quiet place over Sabbath, my husband and I, 
and Mr. and Mrs. E. L. Longway, who had 
come all the way from Boston to become mis- 
sionaries to the Siamese, took two rooms there. 

(133) 




A water street in the outskirts of Bangkok. Bridges cross every little 
way, to allow people to pass from one side to the other. 

Early in the week we rented a pleasant 
house, and Mr. and Mrs. Longway moved in. 
We are very glad to stay with them. 

THE CITY OF BANGKOK 

Bangkok is a good-sized city, and in some 
parts it is very pretty. It has many long, 
wide, smooth streets, which are fine for au- 
tomobiles. There are many small carriages, 
too, drawn by one or two tiny ponies. A 
number of the streets are shaded by trees set 
on each side, and whose branches, meeting 
overhead, make a lovely arched green roof. 
The streets are white, and the sun is bright, so 
this shade is very restful to our eyes. 

(134) 



THE LAND OF SIAM 



135 



One of the things we notice first in Bangkok 
IS the canals, or klongs, which run through it. 
Often a canal as wide as the street itself runs 
along one side of it. Narrow wooden foot- 
bridges cross these canals every little way, to 
allow the people to pass to and from the houses 
on the other side. Often these bridges are 
higher in the middle than at the ends, to make 
"head room" for the canoes and other small 
boats that sail up and down on the Jdongs, 

Where a wide canal crosses one of the main 
streets, a bridge of stone or cement, with stone 
railings, and sometimes stone elephants for or- 
nament, is built. 

NAMES OF SIAM 

Siam is a very old country, and it has many 
names. The Siamese themselves call it 
"Muang Thai," which means "the Land of 
the Free." Do you know another countrv 
whose people like to call it "the Land of the 
Free, and the Home of the Brave"? When 




One of the things a 
traveler notices first 
in Bangkok is the 
canals, or klongs, that 
run through it. Often 
a canal as wide as 
the street itself runs 
along one side of it. 




At some time in his life every man in Siam must enter the templt 

service. Sometimes little boys may be seen wearing the yellow robe 

but usually they wait till they are about nineteen years of age. 



(136) 



THE LAND OF SIAM 137 

we sing these words about our own land, it is 
well to remember that all people love two 
things very much. One is freedom, and the 
other is their own country. 

The Greeks called the land of Siam "The 
Golden Chersonese," a name that sounds like 
music. Others called it "The Land of Gold," 
because at one time a great deal of gold was 
found here. Some believe that when King 
Hiram of Tyre was helping King Solomon 
build the beautiful temple in Jerusalem, he 
sent to Siam for some of the gold that was 
used in adorning it. 

"The Land of the Yellow Robe" is another 
name that is given to Siam, because of the 
great number of priests that one sees every- 
where, each draped in a long piece of yellow 
cloth. At some time in his life every man in 
Siam must enter the temple service. Even 
the king has worn the j^ellow robe, and with 
shaven head gone from door to door, begging 
bowl in hand, to collect his daily food. 

Sometimes little boys may be seen wearing 
the yellow robe ; but usually they wait till they 
are about nineteen years of age. They may 
stay for so short a time as two months, or 
many years, or all their lives, just as they 
choose. 

Some of the first people to come to Siam 
from Europe were the Portuguese, and it is 
supposed that we owe the name Siam to these 



138 STRANGE PEOPLES AND CUSTOMS 

men. The early settlers in southern Siam 
were called Shans. When the Portuguese 
tried to pronounce the word Shan, they called 
it Siam. 

But the name by which Siam is perhaps 
most often called in a pleasant way is "The 
Land of the White Elephant." A white ele- 
phant on a scarlet ground is the national flag. 
Another flag that is sometimes seen has a 
white elephant on a blue ground. 

WHITE ELEPHANTS THAT ARE NOT WHITE 

There are stone white elephants on the 
bridges, and images of white elephants on cer- 
tain temples, and little carved white elephants 
in the curio shops. 

After all this, you may be surprised to 
learn that there is no such thing as a "really 
truly" white elephant. But there have been 
found a few elephants that were, when washed 
well, a little fighter colored than the ordinary 
kind, or that had a few white hairs. 

In olden days, when such an elephant was 
found in Siam, there was great rejoicing. If 
asking of a neighboring country had one, it 
might be that the king of Siam would go to 
war with him to take it away. When a white 
elephant was found, and tamed, it was brought 
to the palace, and kept in the royal stables, 
and fed dainties on silver dishes. 




If it were not for the elephants, the great logs of teak, 
which are so heavy, could hardly be brought down from 
the slopes of the steep hills where these trees grow. 



But in these days, not much attention is 
paid to these animals. Probably an ordinary 
elephant in a zoo, which is well taken care of 
by the grooms, and fed peanuts by the boys 
and girls who come to see him, has a better 
time of it. 

Very good rice is raised in Siam, the water 
which overflows the low country every year 
being just what is needed for rice growing. 
In the northern part of the country are forests 
of teak, a very firm, heavy wood that is much 
used in the tropics because it is not eaten by 
white ants, which destroy so many other kinds 
of wood. 

HOW THE ELEPHANTS WORK 

This northern part of Siam is called Laos. 
There are great numbers of wild elephants in 
Laos, as well as in southern Siam where the 

(139) 



140 STRANGE PEOPLES AND CUSTOMS 

jungle has not been cleared away. In Laos 
the elephants are caught and tamed, and taught 
to work. If it were not for these animals, the 
great logs of teak, which are so heavy, could 
hardly be brought down from the slopes of the 
steep hills where this tree loves to grow. 

The first thing that is done to the tree is to 
cut a ring around it near the ground, so the 
sap will not run up its trunk any more, and 
the tree will dry out a little. This is called 
"girdling." If it did not dry, the log would 
sink when put in the water. About two years 
after a tree is girdled, it is dry enough to be 
cut down. 

When the trees are chopped down, elephants 
push or roll them gently and safely down the 
steep slopes, laying them side by side in long 
rows. Sometimes an elephant may lose its 
footing, and fall down a steep place, and be 
killed. 

When the logs have all been brought down 
from a cleared place to a level spot, the next 
stage of the long journey to the sawmills at 
Bangkok is begun. A log is fastened to each 
elephant by a dragging chain, and the great 
beast walks off, pulling the heavy log behind 
it. Sometimes it pushes or rolls the log along 
with its trunk. 

When all the logs from a certain lot are 
brought to the creek or stream, they are piled 
up, and each one is. marked very plainly, with 



THE LAND OF SIAM 141 

the owner's stamp. After this the elephants 
put them into the water, one by one, and start 
them floating downstream. 

If the logs are many, and the current is 
swift, they may get stuck together in a "jam." 
Then trained elephants swim here and there, 
each guided by its mahout, or driver, moving 
one log a little here and another there, till the 
jam "breaks." Then they turn about and 
swim away as fast as they can ; for a breaking 
jam of teak logs, rushing downstream, would 
be dangerous for even an elephant to meet. 

Slowly, slowly, the teak logs go forward 
on their way to Bangkok. The elephants do 
not go all the way. Sometimes it takes as 
long as six or seven years to make the long 
journey of over a thousand miles. 

In spite of its great size, an elephant can 
climb steep places safely. It is very strong, 
and very sure-footed, and when trained, is 
gentle and obedient. It seems to know just 
what is wanted, and often will do its regular 
work without a man to guide it. 

We are told that when a group of elephants 
hear the dinner bell, they will drop their logs 
right where they are, and rush off, much as 
the same number of boys would do if they 
were splitting wood. 

If a mahout is cruel, he must be very care- 
ful. Many a cruel mahout has been jerked off 
his elephant's head, and quickly trampled to 
death. Sometimes elephants jerk their heads 



142 



STRANGE PEOPLES AND CUSTOMS 



in this way for fun, throwing their mahouts 
to the ground. To cure them of this trick, a 
bamboo collar with sharp points is fastened 
round their necks. Many stories are told of 
the cunning tricks of elephants. 

The elephants of Siam are very useful and 
valuable, a good one being worth a thousand 
dollars. They have been known to live a 
hundred and fifty years. 




A Temple in Siam 




Old Palace at Ayuthla 



CHAPTER XI 

EARLY DAYS IN SIAM 

WHEN we come to a country that we 
have not known, we like to study 
about the people. Where did their 
ancestors come from? Who first lived in this 
place ? 

We cannot tell who first lived in Siam. 
There are no records of its ancient peoples, 
or what they did, or who were their kings. 
It is thought that a long time ago a hardy 
race of men who lived on the high plains of 
Tibet moved to northern China, and stayed 
there till they were driven out. 

Then they traveled southward, and some of 
them came to northern Siam. These peoples 

(143) 



144 STRANGE PEOPLES AND CUSTOMS 

were called Shans. In time they came into 
southern Siam, and their descendants are the 
people who live in Siam to-day. 

The history of Siam is divided into three 
periods, or parts. The first is called the an- 
cient period. Very little is known of that 
early time ; and such stories as are told of it 
do not have any real value, because they are 
of a kind that could not be true. 

The second period began about the year 
1350 A. D. At that time the capital was 
moved to Ayuthia, and for a little more than 
four hundred years the kings of Siam ruled 
from that city. This is called the middle 
period. 

The modern period began when Ayuthia 
was captured by the Burmese, and a new capi- 
tal was set up at Bangkok. This was in 1767, 

King ISTarai was a famous king of Siam, 
who ruled in Ayuthia about fifty years after 
the Pilgrim Fathers came to America. He 
was friendly with men who came to Siam from 
Holland and France and other places, and 
who brought goods to exchange for the gold 
and tin and musk and skins and other things 
that Siam had to sell. A few Catholic priests 
were kindly received by this king. 

A GREEK IN SIAM 

About this time a man from Greece came 
to Siam. His name was Constantine Faulkon 



EARLY DAYS IN SIAM 145 

— at least that is one way to spell it. I 
have seen three others, and probably there are 
still more. 

King Narai liked Fanlkon, and gave him 
the highest offices in the land. He was the 
king's prime minister, and friend, and adviser. 
He had charge of all the money that was used 
in ruling the kingdom, and he was the head 
man in charge of the king's household. 

He built a wall around the city, and a fort, 
and a palace ; for in those days, as now, Siam 
was a great country for palaces. 

By and by the great Narai fell ill, and for 
a time Faulkon was more powerful than ever. 
But the princes of Siam did not like Faulkon. 
They thought he was too friendly with the 
French, for one thing, and that he^ was plan- 
ning to put the adopted son of the king, 
Monpi Totso, on the throne as soon as the 
king was dead. 

So the princes said they had discovered a 
conspiracy. Then they sent messengers to 
call Faulkon to court. 

Faulkon knew that' these men hated him, 
so It was with a heavy heart that he bade fare- 
well to his wife and little sons, and set out in 
his Silver Chair. By and by it came back — 
empty. Then his friends knew that all was 
not well. 

For fourteen days Faulkon was shut up in 
prison and starved and treated very cruelly. 



10 



146 STRAISTGE PEOPLES AND CUSTOMS 

Poor Monpi Totso's head was "struck off," 
in spite of all the king could do, and thrown 
down at Faulkon's feet with the words, "See! 
there is your king!" Then Faulkon was taken 
to see his wife and child (one son died while 
his father was away) ; but his wife had turned 
against him, and would not allow him to kiss 
his little boy. 

A traveler from Europe who visited Siam 
only a few years after all this happened tells 
us that before Faulkon died he "took his seal, 
two silver crosses, a relic set in gold, which he 
wore on his breast, being a present from the 
pope, as also the order of St. Michael, which 
was sent him by the king of France, and 
delivered them to a mandarin who stood by, 
desiring him to give them to his little son. 
Presents indeed," he adds, "that could be of 
no great use to the poor child, who to this 
day with his mother goes begging from door 
to door." 

Poor little boy, who lived so long ago ! And 
poor father, who unwisely tried to gain more 
power than he should! 

SOME KINGS IN SIAM 

Phya Tak, or Phaya Tak-Sin, was another 
great king of Siam. It was he who routed 
the Burmese army, and set up the court at 
Bangkok in 1767. His father was a Chinese. 
He ruled wisely for a while; but afterward 




The coronation chair in which the king of Siam is borne around 
the capital city, Bangkok. 

he became proud and cruel, and a new king, 
a true Siamese, was set over the kingdom. 

For a time it was the custom to have both 
a first king and a second king in Siam, as 
we have a president and a vice president in 
America. The name of the last of these sec- 
ond kings of Siam was George Washington. 
His father, who had studied the lives of many 
great men in all lands, chose this name for his 
son, to show that he admired the noble Ameri- 
can who bore it. And the Siamese George 
Washington seems to have been a wise and 
kind man, too. 

The name of the present king of Siam is 
Somdetch Phra Paramendr Maha Vajiravudh 
Phra Mongkut Klao. As a young man, he 
went to school in England. When his school 

(147) 



148 STRANGE PEOPLES AND CUSTOMS 

days were over, and he came home to Siam, he 
brought with him eighty-three automobiles of 
different kinds. He also had sent to him a 
number of modern pleasure yachts for riding 
up and down the rivers. 

King Vajiravudh, or King Rama, as he is 
often called, is not only the king of his coun- 
try, but also the head of the church. When 
the crown \o{ Siam was put on his head, he 
promised to "uphold, publish, and live" the 
Buddhist faith. So far he is friendly to mis- 
sionaries, and allows them to work in his 
kingdom. 

Things are very different in Siam in some 
ways from what they used to be. In the old 
days, when the king was going abroad, none 
of the common people could go on the street 
or the river. They had to go into their houses 
and shut the doors; for the king was held to 
be too sacred for them to look upon. 

In the court of the present king's grand- 
father. King Mongkut, though he had trav- 
eled in Western lands, and knew Latin and 
English, no native could come near him except 
on his hands and knees. "There were men 
and women in the service of Mongkut," we 
are told, "who never stood during their whole 
lives, and died with knees bent and backs 
broken." 

The first thing King Mongkut's son, the 
young Prince Chulalongkorn, did when he 



EARLY DAYS IN SI AM 149 

was crowneS, was to carry out the wish of his 
father, and make a law that there should be no 
more crawling in the royal presence. Chula- 
longkorn was only fifteen years old when he 
became king, and he reigned forty-three years. 
That is the longest reign of any king of Siam. 

THE PEOPLE OF SIAM 

If you were to take a walk wdth me this 
morning, down the street, you would see many 
things to interest you. First of all would be 
the people. The Siamese are rather short and 
stocky, but they are agile, and can run well 
when they wish to^ and ride ponies, and of 
course they all can swim. 

They have brown skins, some lighter, some 
darker, black eyes, and very straight, very 
black hair. All the people, men and women 
alike, wear their hair short ; but sometimes the 
men have their hair shorter than that of the 
women. The women usually wear their hair 
a few inches long on the top of the head, and 
shorter at the back. It is brushed straight 
back from the forehead. When smooth, it 
looks very well; but when uneven and not 
neatly combed, it is shaggy and untidy. 

A story is told to explain why the women of 
Siam wear their hair in this fashion. Long 
ago there was a war. All the men of the city 
were away, and the women and the children 
were afraid. Thev did not know how to de- 




There are very few 
roads, even poor ones, 
in Siam. Most of the 
traveling is done in 
little boats on the 
canals that crisscross 
the land in every 
direction. 



fend themselves. Then a wise woman said, 
"Let us cut off our hair, and stand on the 
wall with shields and bows and arrows." This 
they did ; and when the enemy saw them, they 
thought the men of the city were at home. 
While they waited, the men came back, and so 
the city was saved. 

DISPOSITION OF SIAMESE 

The Siamese people are light-hearted, 
happy, and — lazy. They dislike work very 
much, but they like play. It is often said of 
them that they play at their work and work at 
their play. I have seen boys at home who 
were much that way. But the trouble with 
the Siamese is, they keep right on acting like 
boys after they are men, when they should 
know better. They are like a nation of 
grown-up children in some ways. 

But they are pleasant and kindly, as long as 
things go to please them; and they are per- 
fectly willing that any one who wishes to work 
should do so. Of course some one has to work 

(150) 



EARLY DAYS IN SI AM 151 

in every land, if the people are to eat; so the 
Chinese who are here find plenty to do, and 
can earn more money than at home. 

In Bangkok we often pass little shops 
where Chinese men and boys are making white 
canvas shoes; and other shops where they are 
stitching white coats. They pull rickshas, 
they build bridges, they are farmers, and serv- 
ants, and shopkeepers. There is hardly any 
kind of work one can think of that the Chinese 
do not do in Siam. 

DRESS OF THE SIAMESE 

The Siamese men and women wear the 
same kind of garment — a straight piece of 
cloth about a yard wide and usually about 
three yards long. This is called a panung. 
It is wrapped around the waist, hangs down 
to the knees, and is passed between the legs. 
Then the two ends are twisted in a certain 
way, and tucked in at the waist, one in front 
and one in the back. 

When the imming is in place, it looks like 
a divided skirt or a pair of baggy knicker- 
bockers in front, the fullness hanging down a 
little below the knees. In the back it is drawn 
up in such a way as to leave the hollow of the 
knee bare. There isn't a pin in it, nor a hook ; 
but in some way it stays up, just the same. 
Other peoples in these southern lands wear the 
straight strip of cloth wrapped about the 



152 STRANGE PEOPLES AND CUSTOMS 

lower part of the body, but no others drape 
it in this graceful fashion. 

When the wearer can afford it, he buys silk 
for his panung, — bright blue or purple or 
pink or green. It is thought a fine thing for 
rich ladies to have a panung of a different 
color for every day of the week. 

About the upper part of the body the 
women wear a scarf, called a pahom. Some 
men have pahoms too, and wear them on the 
head in the heat of the day. In these days the 
women are beginning to wear short jackets, 
made of muslin or silk, and trimmed with 
bright buttons, lace, and embroidery. 

The young men in Bangkok are making 
some changes in their costume. They still 
wear the panung; and on dress-up occasions, 
it is very bright and gay. With it they wear 
tan or canvas shoes, long white silk stockings 
that reach above the knees, and a white coat 
that buttons up to the neck. With a soft 
white panama hat, and a cane, a young Sia- 
mese feels very well dressed indeed, and he 
really does look nice, too. 

In the old days every one went barefoot; 
but nowadays those who wish to follow for- 
eign customs wear loose slippers or even shoes 
and stockings. Sometimes they use them only 
for best. On a train I saw a wrinkled old 
woman who was making a journey. She was 
dressed in her best, and was wearing shoes and 



EARLY DAYS IN SIAM 



153 



stockings. But we had not gone very far 
before I saw her quietly slip off first one shoe, 
and then the other. By and by the stockings 
came off too, and were rolled up and tucked 
into a bag. She looked so comfortable, then, 
and so relieved, that I thought it a pity for 
her to try to change her lifelong custom. 

Like all other Eastern peoples, the Siamese 
are very fond of gold and silver ornaments 
and all kinds of precious stones. Often they 
buy these things instead of putting their 
money in a bank. To them it is just the 
same. Many a little shop here in Bangkok, 
poor and dark, and with only one small 
window, has thousands of dollars' worth of 
shining gems to sell. 








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These Siamese children insisted on dressing up to have 
their picture taken. 



CHAPTER XII 

STRANGE CUSTOMS AND 
CHILDREN OF SIAM 



WHAT THE PEOPLE EAT 

WHAT do the Siamese eat? Rice for 
one thing. That is like bread and 
potatoes to them. With it they eat 
different kinds of "greens," relishes, and cur- 
ries. Green peppers and fish and eggs are 
liked. 

When the rice is cooked, it is put in a large 
dish and set on the floor. Around it are a 
number of smaller bowls holding curry and 
other relishes to eat with the rice. Wlien a 
person wishes to take a mouthful, he dips 

(154) 



CUSTOMS AND CHILDREN OF SIAM 155 

his fingers into the big dish, takes a handful 
of rice, presses it softly into a lump, dips up 
a little of the relish, and stuffs it all into his 
mouth. Not a word to the children about 
table manners! How would you like that? 

Ever so many kinds of bananas grow in 
Siam, and other fruits, some of which are 
delicious. The durian is a large fruit, with 
a thick, rough coat, and a very unpleasant 
smell — till one gets used to it. The inside 
is divided into good-sized pieces, creamy white 
in color, and when ripe, tastes like custard and 
ice cream and a number of other things. This 
fruit is much liked, and is high-priced. 

One of the most delicious fruits in the 
world is the mangosteen — round, dark red 
balls about as large as a medium-sized orange. 
When you press one in your fingers, it pops 
open neatly, and in the center is a small white 
ball, divided into sections — and oh, how deli- 
cious they taste! 

A VERY BAD HABIT 

One thing that you would notice in Bang- 
kok is splashes of red on the sidewalks and on 
the streets. At first you might wonder if 
some one had been hurt. But you would soon 
learn that these spots are made by the saliva 
of persons who are chewing betel nut. 

Almost every one in Siam uses betel nut; 
that is the bad habit of a nation. A small 



156 STRANGE PEOPLES AND CUSTOMS 

piece of the nut, a bit of tobacco, a piece of 
peppery leaf, and a dab of reddish quicklime 
are mixed together in a tiny mortar ; and when 
the whole is just right, it is taken into the 
mouth and held there — not chewed as some 
people chew gum, but slowly. Sometimes 
so much of this mixture is taken into the 
mouth that the lips stick out in a most un- 
pleasant way. 

The red juice has the effect of making the 
teeth as black as jet. The people of Siam 
think black teeth are pretty. "Any dog can 
have white teeth," they say. I suppose a dog 
might have black teeth, too, if he were so fool- 
ish as to use betel nut. 

I was glad to see a few young Siamese men 
whose teeth were white and even and clean. 
These lads had been in school, and had learned 
that black teeth are not beautiful, and that 
betel nut chewing is a filthy habit. I wish 
they were willing to believe that the use of 
tobacco is harmful, too; but almost every one 
in Siam uses tobacco. 

THE HOUSES OF SIAM 

The houses of the common people of Siam 
to-day are not very different from what they 
have been for hundreds of years. They are 
built of rough, thin boards, usually of teak- 
wood, and set on stakes, or piles, a number of 
feet from the ground. 



CUSTOMS AND CHILDREN OF SIAM 157 

There are good reasons for building the 
houses up from the ground in this way. One 
is for coolness; another is to keep out the 
damp, and even the water, for in some parts 
of Siam the country is flooded for part of the 
year. In the dry season the buffaloes and 
other animals are often kept under the house. 

Even the poorest house has more than one 
room, one for sleeping and one for cooking. 
Often there are three or more. Almost al- 
ways there is a little platform or porch in 
front. A ladder stands at one end to go up 
and down on when the ground is dry; but 
when the land is flooded, the people have a 
boat tied handy by, and when they wish to go 
anywhere, they step into it. 

The roof of the house is steep, and covered 
with the leaves of the attap palm. The floor 
is often made of split bamboo, held in place 
with strips of rattan. This kind of floor is 
cool. Then, too, it is easy to keep clean; all 
the household litter falls right through to the 
ground. 

But it has some disadvantages. More than 
two hundred years ago a man who was travel- 
ing in Siam with six other men lay down in 
one of these houses to sleep. Here is his story: 

"We had an accident with another sort of 
a thief, who at night had got under the house. 
He had laid hold of the Corner of a wastecoat, 
hanging through a crevice of the Floor, which 




.sX*^ 




Floating Houses on the Menam Rn*ER 

was made of split Bamboous, and was pulling 
it through with such a force that one of us 
awaked, who suspecting a thief seized it, and 
called to his sleeping Companions for help. 
While they were pulling and hawling, w^ho 
should have it, Core, who from former experi- 
ence immediately suspected a Tyger, tired a 
Gun, and frightened him away." 

On the river banks we see many of the 
''floating houses" of Siam. These houses are 
built on rafts made of bundles of bamboo, 
which are kept in one place by being tied 
loosely to long stakes driven into the mud. 
These houses rise and fall with the tide. If 
a man wishes a change of scene or of neigh- 
bors, all he has to do is to untie his house, 
and call his friends to help him move it some- 
where else. If he has enough money, he can 
hire a steam tug to move it. 

Thousands of people live in these floating 
houses. On the little front porch they may 
have a few things to sell — hats of coarsely 

(158) 



CUSTOMS AND CHILDREN OF SIAM 159 

woven straw; crockery and washbasins and 
towels from Japan ; red earthen pots for cook- 
ing rice; a pile of coconuts; betel nuts, with 
the tobacco, betel leaf, and red lime that are 
used in preparing the nut for chewing; or a 
little pile of folded panungs. 

Here, too, they dip up some water from 
the river, and pour it over themselves when- 
ever they feel like taking a bath. Here the 
neighbors stop to visit, and here the food is 
prepared. 

Other thousands live on boats, with a cover- 
ing of mats for shelter, and have no other 
home. These boat dwellers have their own 
market on the river, which begins not long 
after midnight, and lasts till sunrise. Some- 
times the women come down the river bring- 
ing flowers in their little canoes. Such a boat 
looks like a small garden, floating swiftly past. 

THE CHILDREN OF SIAM 

The children of Siam are so plump and 
round and brown, I am sure you would fall 
in love with them, as I do. They are every- 
where to be seen, bathing in the klongs, or 
rolling on the doorsteps, or sitting astride the 
hip of mother or of an older sister or brother. 
They are good-natured children, too, and take 
what comes, without making much fuss. 

When a baby is born, it is often rubbed 
with a yellowish powder that is thought to 




A Siamese mother rocking her babe in its cradle of coarse net, 
that hangs from a frame. 

help in keeping off mosquitoes. Surely the 
Siamese babies need this help, for mosquitoes 
live by millions in Bangkok. 

Always in a shady place in the house, even 
in the daytime, they are in hiding. When we 
open a suit case, they fly up in our faces ; if we 
take down a garment, they come swarming 
out of its folds. 

The Siamese baby is dearly loved by its 
father and mother, and is carried around more 
than is good for it, its little legs flopping with 
every step its living baby carriage takes. Its 
cradle is made of coarse net, hanging from a 
frame. The mother sits near to touch the 
cradle once in a while and keep it swinging. 

Very early in the child's life its head is 
shaved, all but a little tuft on the top, which 
is brushed and oiled and wound up in a tight 
coil. If the parents have money, this little roll 

(160) 



CUSTOMS AND CHILDREN OF SIAM 161 

of hair is held up with a jeweled pin, or a 
wreath of small flowers may be worn around 
it. When the head is shaved, a name is given 
to the baby, but this name is changed if the 
child becomes sick, or if for any reason his 
parents think it unlucky. 

THE SHAVING OF THE TOPKNOT 

When the boy or the girl is about eleven 
years old (or maybe thirteen, or even fifteen), 
the topknot is shaved off. You would not 
think this a great event, perhaps, but that is 
because you do not live in Siam. In this coun- 
try the shaving of the topknot is regarded as 
one of the chief happenings in a child's life. 

If the parents are rich, a great feast is held, 
and the feasting and ceremonies last several 
days. All the friends of the father and mother 
bring a present to the child, often of money. 
If, on the other hand, the parents are pooi% 
the child is taken to a temple, and the topknot 
is clipped off by the priest without much ado. 

When the hair of the topknot is cut off, it 
IS divided into two bundles. One bundle has 
the short hairs, and the other the long hairs. 
The bundle of short hairs is set afloat on the 
water of a near-by river as the tide is goino- 
out. When they float away, they are sup"^ 
posed to take with them "all the bad temper, 
the greediness, and the pride of their former 
owner." Wouldn't it be easy to get rid of 



11 



162 STRANGE PEOPLES AND CUSTOMS 

all our naughty and bad ways, if we could do 
it in some such fashion as that? 

And really, that is just what Buddhism is 
— it is a religion that teaches people, from 
their childhood, that they can make themselves 
good. If they do certain things, like building 
a temple, they gain a great deal of merit, 
which may offset many wicked things that 
they have done. But we know we cannot 
make ourselves good. Only Jesus can do that, 
and He will do it for each one of us. 

SACRED HAIR 

The little bundle of long hairs is kept very 
carefully. Some miles north of Bangkok 
there is a "sacred mountain" named Phrabat, 
where the people believe there is a "footstep" 
of Buddha. By and by the child will make a 
pilgrimage to this sacred hill, and give the 
long hairs of his topknot to the priests to use 
in making brushes to sweep the footprint with. 
But so much hair is brought that it cannot all 
be used in this way, so after the pilgrims go 
home, a great deal of it is burned up. 

CHILDREN'S GAMES 

The children of Siam like to play, but they 
do not play games that require much running 
or hard exercise. Kiteflying is a favorite 
game, and they like to play it in March, just 
as you do, when the days are fair and the 
winds are strong. If a Siamese boy can cut 



CUSTOMS AND CHILDKEN OF SIAM 168 

the string of another boy's kite, by sawing the 
string of his own kite across it, he has won 
the game. 

They have a kind of football that it is fun 
to watch. The ball is small and light, being 
made of rattan or cane. The players stand in 
a ring or a group, and one of them sends the 
ball into the air. When it comes down, the 
person nearest it must send it up again. He 
may send it up with his heel or shoulder or 
head, but he must not touch it with his hands. 
The players are very deft, and quick in judg- 
ing where the ball will fall, and giving it a 
toss into the air again. 

They play real football too, and like it. 
This seems to be one game that men and boys 
of all ages are fond of in these Eastern lands. 
Often they do not play a game, but just kick 
the ball for the pleasure of seeing who can 
send it farthest. 

The boys of Siam go to the temple school 
for a few years, but they do not learn much 
beyond a little reading and writing. In these 
days the government has a number of good 
schools of all grades in Bangkok, and here 
many children are taught. For a number of 
years, too, the missionaries have had good 
schools in this city, and to these schools a few 
of the many children could come. 

When the Protestant missionaries came to 
Siam, their first thought was to have the Bible 
printed so that the people could read it. So, 



164 STRANGE PEOPLES AND CUSTOMS 

book by book, the Bible was put into the 
Siamese and Laos languages, and printed. 
Nearly two million copies of these small books 
have been sold and given to the people. One 
man spent twenty years in Siam, in this work, 
and died in the land to which he gladly gave 
his life. 






Siamese writing showing: about one fourth of the Lord's Prayer. 




A tower in the old 
palace grounds, 
and a spire of a 
rained temple, ill 
Ayuthia. The Sia- 
mese do not take 
very good care of 
their temples. 
Many of these 
temples are fall- 
ing to pieces. 




CHAPTER XIII 

A VISIT TO AN ANCIENT CITY 

I HAVE already told you that in 1767 
Bangkok became the capital city of Siam. 
Before tliat, Ayuthia was the chief city. 
Here the kings of Siam lived for more than 
four hundred years. Here they built temples 
and palaces and had their armies. And to this 
far-distant capital there came, more than two 
hundred years ago, an ambassador from the 
king of France. A great reception was held 
in his honor. 

Of course we wished to visit Ayuthia, and 
see some of its ruins. So one morning bright 
and early we started for the railway station 
in Bangkok. On the way we saw something 
that we had not seen before — two tall poles 

(165) 



166 STRANGE PEOPLES AND CUSTOMS 

joined at the top by another pole, like a very 
high swing. And that is just what it is — a 
swing one hundred feet high! Once a year 
a great "swinging festival" is held in Bang- 
kok, and all the people flock to the swing to 
see the games and contests. 

The railway station is large and well built, 
but the trains have small engines and wooden 
cars. As we leave the city, we can look a long- 
way over the plains, for all this country of 
southern Siam is very flat. As far as we can 
see, there are rice fields. Here and there, now 
near the track, now far away, are clusters of 
green trees. Every group of trees means a 
little village ; for the people do not build their 
houses on their farms, but in groups. In the 
morning they go to their fields to work, and 
at night they return home. In this way they 
can defend themselves from robbers. 

On each side of the railway track there is a 
ditch, made by digging out some of the earth, 
and piling it up to make the roadbed for the 
train. In this ditch are many lotus flowers, 
like great pond lilies, some white, others a 
delicate pink, among their large, flat leaves. 

THE WATER BUFFALO 

Everywhere in the fields we see the clumsy, 
slow-moving water buffaloes, with wide- 
branching horns. Sometimes these horns 
measure as much as nine feet from tip to 



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Water buffaloes draw the high, two-wheeled carts that are used in 
some parts of Siam. 



tip. The children are not afraid of these huge, 
fierce-looking animals, and lead them about 
with a small cord, or sit on their wide backs, 
and drive them home at night. 

The water buffalo is given this name be- 
cause it loves to wallow in the mud, or to 
stand in any little pool where it can be covered 
all over, with just the tip of its nose sticking 
out. The usual color of these animals is 
mouse-color or dark gray, but here in Siam 
we see many of a strange light color that is 
almost pink! It seems queer to think of a 
pink cow, doesn't it? And the water buffalo 
is a sort of cousin to our barnyard bossy. 

(167) 



168 STRANGE PEOPLES AND CUSTOMS 

Water buffaloes are very useful to the Sia- 
mese. They pull the wooden plows to break 
up the land, and draw the high, two-wheeled 
carts that are used in some parts of the coun- 
try to draw in the grain or to carry loads from 
one place to another. There are very few 
roads, even poor ones, in Siam. Most of the 
traveling is done in little boats on the canals 
that crisscross the land in every direction. 

We see many flocks of white birds, too, that 
look like small herons. These birds are often 
seen sitting on the backs of the water buffa- 
loes. They eat the insects that burrow into 
the thick skins of these animals. 

STRANGE AND INTERESTING SIGHTS 

Sometimes we see men and boys fishing 
with small nets. They seem to us to be letting 
these nets down into the tall grass; but there is 
a little water, and they must catch something. 

In about two hours we come to the little 
railway station of Ayuthia, and hire a boat- 
man to take us up and down the river. We 
cannot speak a word of his language, and he 
cannot speak a word of ours, so we do not get 
along as well as if we had thought to bring a 
guide, who would have known the way to 
every place, and told us all about everything. 

But we enjoy finding out for ourselves, so 
when we come to a wall around a large piece 
of ground, and steps leading down from the 



A Statue of Buddha in a Ruined Temple op Ayuthia 

bank, we get out, and leave our boatman to 
rest while we walk through the grounds of an 
old, ruined temple. 

Under our feet we feel the stones of an an- 
cient pavement, and see some of them once in 
a while, but the grass is growing over them. 
Here are old towers, all broken and in ruins. 
Once a large building stood in this place, but 
now there are only tumbled bricks to show 
the outline of the wall. 

We stop to look at another large building, 
or what is left of it. The roofs, with their 
colored tiles, are gone ; but a little of the wall 
is still standing, so we can see what it must 
have been like. Inside there is an immense 
statue of Buddha. The image is built of brick 
and mortar, all covered over with great metal 
plates, which are still in fair condition. 

(169) 




Gathering Plums on the Old Palace Grounds at Ayutmia 



Two of the young men who are with us, 
and who are good climbers, pick their way 
over the fallen bricks and climb up on the 
image, and stand on its hand. There is plenty 
of room. So you can see that it is very large. 

We walk here and there in the old temple 
inclosure. In one place a native woman is 
gathering wild plums in a little basket. 
Everywhere we look it is wild and desolate. 
It is a good place for large snakes, so we do 
not try to explore as much as we should like. 

While we were resting under some locust 
trees, a tall, fierce-looking, very dark-skinned 
man, wearing only a strip of cloth about his 
loins, and carrying a huge knife in one hand, 
came up. He had some wild honey, which he 
washed to sell, and a little boy who was with 
him had another piece. Finally w^e agreed on 
a price; and w^e w^ere very glad to have it to 
eat, for we were hungry. 

On the w^ay home we stopped to look at an 
old palace that stands on the river bank. This 

(170) 



A VISIT TO AN ANCIENT CITY 171 

palace has a wall around it, and a well kept 
lawn in front. There are small buildings near, 
where priests live. In a wooden barracks not 
far away a few soldiers stay who guard the 
palace. We cannot see much inside, but what 
little we do see is dusty and cobwebby. 

The city of Ayuthia itself stands on a small 
island, shaped a little like a human foot. All 
around it flows the Menam, which curves and 
twists and divides into branches that join 
again by and by as it goes on its way to the 
sea. We are sorry that we have not time to 
visit the museum in Ayuthia, where we might 
see some of the relics of ancient days that are 
kept there. But it is nearly time for the train, 
so we cross over the river to the little station, 
and wait for it to come. 

ELEPHANT HUNTS 

In the old days an elephant hunt was held 
every year at Ayuthia; but now such a hunt 
is held only once in a long time, and is a 
great occasion.' 

Hunters are sent into the jungle to drive 
the elephants to the river bank; sometimes 
there are hundreds of them. Thousands of 
people are in boats on the river to see the tame 
elephants drive and guide their wild brothers 
across the river and into a field surrounded by 
a stockade made of teak logs, held together 
with iron bands. 



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The elephant corral at Ayuthia where wild elephants that have been 

captured are brought to be sorted. After as many have been chosen 

as are wanted, the rest are allowed to return to the jungle. 



The wild elephants are frightened. They 
"trumpet" and scream and make a great noise. 
In the crush some of them are hurt. The tame 
elephants help those that have been pushed 
over, to get up and stand on their feet again. 

Into this herd of angry, frightened beasts, 
a number of men ride on trained elephants, to 
pick out the young animals which they wish to 
keep and train. When one is chosen, it is 
lassoed by the leg, and tied to a strong stake. 
No matter how hard it tries, it cannot get 
away. 

When as many as are wanted have been 
chosen, the rest are turned into a large field, 
where they have something to eat, and are 
then allowed to go back to their home in the 
jungle. The others are kept to be tamed and 
trained. It takes about three years for a 

(172) 



A VISIT TO AN ANCIENT CITY 173 

wild elephant to lose its fear, so that it can be 
trained to work. 

The Siamese greatly enjoy an elephant 
hunt of this kind. They come in all kinds of 
boats to look on; and the more noise and ex- 
citement there is, the better they are pleased. 
When it is all over, and the royal barges with 
the king and his court have gone away, the 
rest of the people go paddling off in every 
direction in their little boats. 

TEMPLES AND PALACES 

I suppose you think it would be a great 
thing to live in a palace. In Bangkok there 
are several palaces, where the king and his 
relatives live. Often when a new king comes 
to the throne, he likes to build a palace of his 
own. Sometimes it takes so long to get one 
finished that the king who begins it does not 
live in it himself, but it becomes the home of 
the next king. 

More than two hundred years ago, in the 
old capital of Ayuthia, there were three pal- 
aces, we are told,— the "New Palace," and the 
"Ancient Palace," and the "Palace of the 
Querry of the King's Elephants." But while 
these palaces looked very pretty with their 
tiled roofs and gilt ornaments, they lacked 
every comfort that you would enjoy. In wet 
weather the mud was so deep around them 
that, so a visitor to Ayuthia tells us, "people 




It is said that there are twenty thousand of these 
images in one temple in Ayuthia. 



soiiietiiiies step in mud up to the calf of their 
legs, if they do not keep an exact balance in 
walking over the small planks that are laid 
for theiii." 

On the Siamese New Year's Day, the people 
of Bangkok are allowed to come into the 
grounds of the present Royal Palace and look 
at the buildings, and see its famous temple. 
There is a "white elephant," too, that every 
one likes to see, especially visitors to the city. 

In Bangkok there are nearly four hundred 
temples, some very large, covering acres of 
ground, some small and hidden in out-of-the- 
way corners. 

TEMPLES, OE WATS 

These temples are called wats. This word 
means all the buildings in the temple inclosure. 
Often there is a high wall around the inclosure, 
with colored tiles on top, and with tall red 
wooden gates, guarded by frightful looking 

(174) 



A VISIT TO AX ANCIENT CITY 175 

images as big as giants. Inside there are 
long, airy rooms where the boys who come to 
school are taught. There are long, shed-like 
buildings, too, where gilded images are kept, 
sitting in rows. It is said that there are 
twenty thousand of these images in one temple 
in Ayuthia. 

To us the most interesting structures in the 
temple grounds are the tall spires, sometimes 
gilded and sometimes covered with tiles or bits 
of bright-colored glass and broken pieces of 
dishes. Sometimes tiny plates and bowls, of 
different colors, are set into the cement in the 
form of flowers and leaves. When we are 
quite close, these do not look very pretty; but 
at a distance, when the sun shines on them, 
they dazzle our eyes. These spires are built 
over "sacred relics" of one sort or another. 

The larger buildings in the wat have over- 
lapping roofs, covered with tiles of gold color, 
and amber, and green, and scarlet, and blue. 
At each end of every roof are graceful curled 
horns, which represent a certain seven-headed 
snake, which Buddhists think once saved the 
life of Buddha. With their white walls and 
pillars, their colored roofs and gilded doors, 
these buildings are beautiful to look at on the 
outside, if we do not come too near and look 
at them too closely. 

The Wat Phra Keo, or Temple of the 
Emerald Buddha, is one of the most famous 



176 STEANGE PEOPLES AND CUSTOMS 

temples of Bangkok. It stands in the Royal 
Palace grounds, and except on New Year's 
Day, one must have a card in order to visit it. 
The floor of this temple is of bronze, highly 
polished, and there is a great altar fifty feet 
high. The image is only about eighteen inches 
high, and is of gold set with precious stones. 
^"Its hair and its robes are of pure gold." 

Bangkok is a very flat city. But there is 
one small hill in it, which can be seen from a 
long distance. This hill is called the Wat Sah 
Ket, or Temple of the Golden Mount. Dia- 
mond Hill is another name for it. This hill 
is two hundred and fifty feet high, and is 
built of brick and mortar. It is all covered 
over, from bottom to top, with trees and 
shrubs. "On the top is a snow-white spire, 
and under the spire, in a gilded shrine, there 
is a glass model of one of Buddha's teeth." 
For three days every year the people come to 
worship this glass tooth, bringing with them 
an offering of gold leaf, which they stick on 
the railing in front of the shrine. Sometimes 
they buy candles or a few wax flowers at the 
foot of the hill, and bring them. The flowers 
are thrown into a fire, but the candles are 
lighted and left burning. 

Near the grounds of the Royal Palace is 
the Wat Po, or Temple of the Sleeping Idol. 
The chief building is a large, many-roofed 
structure built over a gigantic image of 



A VISIT TO AN ANCIENT CITY 177 

Buddha. This image is on a long platform, 
and is lying down, but with the head raised 
on one hand. It is built of brick and mortar, 
plastered over, and covered with the gilt that 
is used on all the images. In some places this 
gilding is peeling off in large patches, leaving 
the bricks bare. In spite of the fact that this 
image is called the Sleeping Buddha, its eyes 
are open. 

This great image is one hundred and sev- 
enty-five feet long, and eighteen feet wide 
across the chest. At the elbows the arm meas- 
ures six feet through, and the feet are sixteen 
feet long. 

A BEAUTIFUL TEMPLE 

One of the most beautiful of the temples 
that we visited is Wat Chang, on the west side 
of the river. The chief building is a tall, bell- 
shaped tower two hundred and fifty feet high. 
Four smaller towers stand one at each of the 
four corners of this great building. All these 
are inlaid with bright-colored bits of porcelain, 
arranged in the shape of flowers and leaves. 
Very steep steps lead up to balconies on the 
main tower, from which we have a fine view 
of the city of Bangkok, the grounds of the 
Royal Palace, and of the Menam River, which 
winds among the fields and groves like a sil- 
very ribbon on its way to the sea. 

The people do not come to these temples to 
pray to these images. They think that "every 

12 



178 STRANGE PEOPLES AND CUSTOMS 

man must save himself by his own deeds." 
If, when he dies, he has more good deeds than 
bad deeds to his credit, he will be happy. 
Sometimes the people listen to the reading of 
their sacred books, or sing chants, or a talk 
may be given. But there is no prayer. They 
do not feel the need of Jesus, who came to 
save the world. 

But we know that there will be some from 
every nation who will be saved when Jesus 
comes; so we feel sure that many from this 
land will accept Jesus. 

The Siamese do not take very good care 
of their temples. They think it counts as a 
great deal of "merit" to build a new temple, 
but nothing is gained by keeping the old ones 
in repair. For this reason we see many tem- 
ples which are falling to pieces. Their gild- 
ing wears away, the bright-colored flowers 
become loose and fall down in piles of broken 
fragments, and in due time they are in ruins. 
But the Siamese do not worry. There will 
always be new temples built, they say, and the 
people who build them will get great credit. 

To-morrow we must say good-by to Bang- 
kok, with its temples and its palaces, and its 
many, many people, most of whom have never 
heard the Good News. There are many things 
I should like to tell you about them, but what 
I have written 'will give you just a little 
glimpse into this interesting country. 




CHAPTER XIV 



WHERE THE TRAINS REST 
AT XIGHT 

THE next place that we were to visit was 
Singapore. We could go by land or by 
sea; and in these days it would be pos- 
sible for us to go by air. If we went by sea, 
we should have a comfortable trip, with good 
food, and a sure place to sleep. If we went 
by land, we must travel on a new railroad, 
and sleep in rest houses at night. But in this 
way we could see the country, and we decided 
that even if it was not so easy, we would go 
b}^ land. 

(179) 



180 



STRANGE PEOPLES AND CUSTOMS 



So, day before yesterday, long before the 
sun was up, we left the newly rented mission 
home, on our way to the railway station, — 
not the fine, large station from which we 
started for Ayuthia, but a little one across the 
river. As the heels of our little ponies click- 
ety-clacked along the quiet streets, we looked 
at the stars, shining like jewels in the dark 
blue sky. We were glad to see the Big Dip- 
per again. ' It was like seeing an old friend. 

When the train was ready to start, the 
pointed roofs and spires of the temples were 
clearly outlined against the rosy sky, and that 
was our last sight of them and of Bangkok. 

The railwaj^ line through southern Siam 
has not been finished very long, and the trains 



do not run at night. We ask why, and are 




Because of the wild animals, the trains do not run at night. 



w 


"^WKKKM 


HI '^ 




MM, > ^H 


^^^^K 1 '' i^'' 1 



On the "observation car" of a Siamese railway train. The woman, 

with her short hair, panung, and pahom, looks like a young man, as 

most of the women of Slam do. 



told that it is "because of the wild animals." 
They might wander onto the track, and not 
know enough to get off. It would be rather 
bad for the train, too, if an elephant should 
take a notion to stand on the track and not 
get out of the way. 

On each side of the track is the jungle. 
Sometimes it comes up close to the car win- 
dows; sometimes it is farther away. In some 
places there are clearings where rice is grown 
— beautiful, tall rice; but rice growing is 
very hard work, so the people raise only what 
they need to eat. They do not want any more ; 
for if they should have money, and it became 
known, there would be danger of robbers. 

One of the important towns to which we 
come is a town named Phrapatom. Nakon 

(181) 



182 STRANGE PEOPLES AND CUSTOMS 

Paton is another name for it. At one time, 
long before Ayuthia became the capital, Phra- 
patom was the chief city of Siam. In these 
days rich people from Bangkok like to come 
here for pleasure and rest. 

The tallest spire in all Siam is at Phrapa- 
tom. Its dome is covered with gold-colored 
tiles, which glisten and shine in the morning 
sun, and make it look like a tower of gold. 
But we are told that nearer by we should see 
that these tiles are falling off in many places, 
and not being put on again. 

In the rice fields, as we go on, we see many 
scarecrows, of the queerest kinds you could 
think of. One of the strangest is a bamboo 
pole about the height of a man, with a flutter- 
ing cloth tied around it, and an old washbasin 
on its head for a hat ! This is somewhat like 
what we see in planting time in the eastern 
part of the United States. 

After riding all day, we get off, just at 
dark, at a station called Chumplon. All the 
other passengers — and there are a great many 
— men, women, children, and babies, get off 
too. There are dozens and dozens of men and 
boys at the station, each one with a tall pole 
with a Chinese lantern on top. On the thin 
white paper of the lantern are printed in 
black, sprawling Chinese characters the names 
of different sleeping places, and the boys 
make a great noise urging the travelers to 
come with them. 




Through the Mountains on a Siamese Railroad 

As the people are just as anxious to find a 
place to sleep, bargains are quickly made ; and 
sodn the passengers are hurrying off down the 
long street, each with his bundles and baskets. 
If a family have more than they can carry, 
they pile their goods on a cart, and off they 
go. We have our "lugs" carried to a pleas- 
ant-looking rest house near the station. In a 
few minutes the last stragglers from the train 
have passed on to the village, and the tropic 
dark quickly shuts out everything but a few 
flaring kerosene street lamps. It is very still. 
We are glad indeed for this good place in 
which to rest in southern Siam! 

In the morning very early we are off again. 
Now we see low hills rising straight up from 
the plain, some of them looking like great 
jagged teeth. Most of them are covered with 
trees, and here and there are patches of red- 

(183) 



184 STRANGE PEOPLES AND CUSTOMS 

dish color that look like fire. These are the 
flowers that cover the top of a certain tall 
tree sometimes called "forest flame." 

At the small stations, and in the country 
places, we see native houses, and the native 
people, men and women and children. We 
see many homes, too, where, by the clothes 
that are drying on bamboo poles, we know 
that Chinese are living. And we wonder how 
all these people will hear the Good News. 
Who will carry it to them, and show them the 
way to the better land? 

It was quite light this evening when we 
came to Tung Sung Junction. The first thing 
to do was to find our room, and get all our 
things safely in it. Then, after washing our 
hands and faces, we walked through the town, 
and out to a small temple at the foot of a 
steep hill. Here we saw the village school, 
and a few boys wearing the yellow robe. 

On our way back to the rest house, we 
stopped to look at a small gray monkey, 
chained to a pole. Formerly there were many 
monkeys in Siam. A man who sailed down 
the Menam two hundred years ago tells us 
that he saw "incredible numbers of monkeys 
of a blackish Colour, some of which are of a 
very large size, and some less, of the common 
sort, and a grey colour, which walk about 
tame, and as it were for pleasure's sake along 
the shore, or climb up the Trees, but toward 
evening perch themselves upon the highest 



WHERE THE TRAINS REST 185 

Trees on the shore in great numbers like 
crows." What monkeys there are in Siam 
in these days, stay in the jungle. 

We pass a home, too, where a family are 
eating their evening meal. They are sitting 
on the floor or half lying down, and all dip- 
ping the food out from one large dish. 

In the morning early we shall go on again. 
We have only about five hours' ride, then we 
shall come to the end of the Southern Siam 
Railway, and that means that we shall be at 
the end of Siam. 

VISITING THE BATU CAVES 

When we left the Southern Siam Railway, 
we walked along a platform, went through a 
gate, and were in the Federated Malay States! 
The train was all ready to start as soon as we 
got on, and carry us still farther on our way 
to Singapore. 

This was good-by to Siam. All the rest of 
the Malay Peninsula (look at a map of this 
long arm of land reaching down from India 
and Siam toward the large island of Sumatra) 
IS under the care of England. 

We begin to see the difference right away. 

There are neat, pleasant, well kept towns, 
and large estates of rubber trees and coconut 
trees, and long, smooth roads from one town 
to another. Automobiles filled with more hu- 
man beings than you ever saw in an automo- 




The house with curtains is the one where we have our chapel in 
Kuala Lumpur, and where our missionaries live. 

bile in your life, wait at the crossings for our 
train to pass. 

Two nights and one day we stayed in Pe- 
nang, a little island off the coast of the Malay 
Peninsula. The first thing we noticed here 
was the double ricksha — with a wide seat in 
which two persons can easily sit. But there 
was only one puller, — always a Chinese, — 
and these men looked thin and poor. 

Penang was the first British colony in the 
Straits. The name Penang means Betel Nut 
Island, so the island is really named for this 
tree, which grows everywhere on it. It is also 
called the Prince of Wales Island, but is not 
often spoken of by that name. 

We left Penang in the morning, and late 
in the afternoon reached the stately white 
railway station at Kuala Lumpur, halfway 
between Penang and Singapore. How glad 

(186) 



WHERE THE TRAINS REST 187 

we were when our missionaries here, Mr, and 
Mrs. G. A. Thompson, met us, and took us 
home with them! 

Our missionaries in Kuala Lumpur live in 
one of a long row of houses that are occupied 
by Indians. It is not a very pleasant place, 
but their little part of it is clean. Downstairs 
is the chapel, which we enter from the street. 
Back of the chapel is a small, dark room, 
which is used for dining room and kitchen. 
The tiny back "yard" is all floored over with 
cement, which is very hot and glaring in the 
middle of the day. And it is always hot in 
Kuala Lumpur. 

Upstairs there is one long room. Curtains 
across one end make two places for beds. 
And the missionaries are quite content, wait- 
ing and hoping for a better place by and by. 

On Sabbath a number of children*^and then- 
fathers and mothers came to Sabbath school. 
These children of Kuala Lumpur are Chinese 
and Malays and Indians. The little Indian 
boys and girls have the blackest, roundest eyes 
you ever saw, and black hair, often curly, and 
very dark skins, and very white teeth. They 
are quiet and gentle in their manners. 

Not far from Kuala Lumpur is a high, 
rocky hill, which the Chinese call "Everlast- 
ing Starlit Rocks." In this hill are two large 
caves. One of them is oh, so dark! and it is 
said to be "bottomless." This does not mean 



188 STRANGE PEOPLES AND CUSTOMS 

that it goes straight down in the earth like a 
well, but that it slopes gently down, down, 
under the ground. A man once went in, it 
is said, a distance of a mile and a half; but no 
one has gone any farther, and it is not likely 
that any one will. You see, millions of bats 
live in this cave, and it has a dreadful smell. 
In fact, the odor is so bad it is like poison gas. 
We went a little way into the cave, but rushed 
out much more quickly than we went in. 

The other cave is quite light. In some 
places the ceilings are a hundred feet above 
our heads. They are covered with long, icicle- 
like arms called stalactites. The floors are 
slimy and slippery in places. 

In this cave we saw a number of men who 
have come to this place to live. They ex- 
pected a gift, so my husband offered to give 
one of the wildest looking of them a little 
money if he would allow him to take his pic- 
ture. This he did; but the light was so dim 
that, after all, the picture was poor. 

Coming home from our visit to these caves, 
we drove slowly through the lovely Botanical 
Gardens. All kinds of trees and flowers grow 
in this park, and the brick-red roads winding 
here and there are very neat and well kept. 
Once three gray monkeys scampered across 
the road in front of us — the only ones I saw 
running free in all this country. 

Our next stop is Singapore. Here all the 
workers in this Malay field will meet to study 




Street Scene in Singapore 



the Bible, and to plan how better to carry the 
Good News in this part of the world. 

The name comes from two words, singa 
purUj which are said to mean Lion Town. 
Singapore is built on an island, even as New 
York is built on the island of Manhattan. 
But there is this difference — Singapore cov- 
ers only a small part of the island on which 
it is built. 

Long ago there were many tigers on this 
island, and 6ven in recent years tigers have 
been known to swim across from the mainland 
of Johore and hide in secluded places. Once 
a tiger came into the city itself, and hid under 
the steps of the largest hotel. Probably the 
poor beast was as badly frightened as the 
people who saw him crouching there. But 
that was no place for a tiger, fresh from the 
jungle, as you yourselves know; he would 

(189) 



190 STRANGE PEOPLES AND CUSTOMS 

have been much better off if he had not left 
his home in the wilds. 

Singapore is a large city, with between 
three and four hundred thousand people living 
in it. There are Malays, of course, because 
they belong there. Then there are several 
kinds of Indians, and Japanese, and a few 
thousand white persons. But there are more 
Chinese than any of the others, or than all of 
them together. It is said that from seventy 
to eighty per cent of the people who live in 
Singapore are Chinese. That means that out 
of every ten persons, if they were walking 
past us, seven or eight would be Chinese! 

In a quiet corner of this great city we have 
a pretty little church where the people who 
are looking for the soon coming of Jesus meet 
every Sabbath day. Then, on a pleasant, low 
hillside some miles away, in a country-like 
place, we have a printing office, or shall have 
by and b^^ It is just begun now. By and by, 
too, we shall have a school for the young 
people on our land here, and some neat small 
homes for the missionary families to live in. 

STRANGE WORSHIP 

This week the Indians in the city have a 
celebration on in honor of a certain god, who, 
they think, was born at the time when the 
Batu Caves near Kuala Lumpur were first 
made. To-day, coming home on the street 



WHERE THE TRAINS REST 



191 



car, we saw two or three processions. In the 
place of honor were tall Indians, holding 
above their heads heavy arches covered with 
leaves folded in a certain way. Festoons of 
the same leaves, folded in this fashion, hang 
before the doors of their temples. 

These men wore only a strip of cloth about 
the waist. Their arms and chests and backs 
and legs were stuck full of brass pins — long 
pins slipped in under the skin and out again, 
in regular designs. The same kind of pins 
were stuck through their ears and through 
their lips. On the back of one man, attached 
to chains which were fastened to these pins, 
were ten or twelve metal balls, each one about 
the size of a baseball. Yet he walked straight 
on, in the blazing sun, holding that heavy arch 
above his head. 

They do other things, such as walking on 
beds of coals, to atone for their sins, or to 
gain favor with their god. For they are very 
religious. Every time we go on the street we 




This is a common 
scene on the streets 
of Singapore — Indian 
oxen with a load of 
coconut husks. 



192 STRANGE PEOPLES AND CUSTOMS 

meet hundreds of these poor people who have 
been to the temple to pray. We do not see 
them go; but we can tell that they have been, 
for on their foreheads or between their eyes is 
a little gray mark, which the priest has rubbed 
with sacred ashes. Or there may be a dab of 
red, or a few long marks of red. They feel 
that they have done all they need to do. 
Surely they need to hear the Good News. 

Many of the black and brown and yellow 
people who live in Singapore, and in the 
country around it, have one or more yokes of 
white or cream-colored Indian oxen. All day 
long they pass our mission compound, on their 
way to town and home again. 

These oxen have kind-looking faces, with 
wide foreheads, and high, curved horns. At 
certain times their owners dress them up by 
painting their horns, and trimming them with 
brass tips and bands. They seem to like very 
well to paint one horn one color and one an- 
other, which makes them look queer indeed. 

It does look strange to us to see these 
heavy, solid-looking animals walking along 
the paved streets, dragging their two-wheeled 
carts, piled high with coconuts or straw or 
rubber or other stuff, while side by side with 
them, dashing past them, and bearing down 
upon them, are swift-running automobiles. 
But the oxen do not act afraid; sedately they 
go along, shaking their horns at every step. 




The bamboo hats are so small in the 
crown that they must be tied on. 



CHAPTER XV 



THE LAND OF MORNING CALM 

AFTER leaving Singapore we went to 
Shanghai, the largest port city of China, 
and from there to Chosen. Shanghai 
is home to us. Here we have a large mission 
compound, with a school, and a printing 
office, and a number of pleasant gray brick 
houses, with red roofs, where our missionaries 
live. In one of these houses we stay when we 
are "at home in Shanghai," and we think 
many times of the children who have brought 
their gifts to Sabbath school to help build 
these homes. 



(193) 



13 



194 STRANGE PEOPLES AND CUSTOMS 

In this chapter we will talk about Chosen. 

If you will look at an outline map of Japan, 
you will notice, standing out in the sea from 
Manchuria, west from Japan, a point of land 
that looks a little like a horse's head. This 
land is the old, old country of Chosen, or 
Korea, as it is still called by many. 

Chosen is a peninsula. An island is land 
that has water all around it; but a peninsula, 
while it may have water nearly all round it, 
is joined to a larger body of land. 

Chosen is joined along its northern edge to 
the great land of Manchuria; but for many 
miles, the line that marks the end of Chosen 
and the beginning of Manchuria is a river. 
So Chosen is almost an island, after all! 

A VERY OLD COUNTRY 

Chosen is a very old country. Long, long 
before America was heard of, long before 
Jesus came to this world as a little babe, even 
as far back as the time when the elders of 
Israel came to Samuel and asked for a king 
to reign over them, some record has been 
handed down of things that have been done 
in Chosen. 

Outside the ancient city of Pyongyang 
. there is a pine-covered hill, and on this hill- 
side is a wall, with a shrine on one side. The 
door is locked ; but if we ask the old man who 
keeps the key, he will open it, and take us 



THE LAND OF MORNING CALM 195 

through the small temple, and into the grassy 
inclosure. The wall is all aroimd; it is very 
quiet inside. 

A wide walk leads to a great mound of 
earth, covered with coarse grass. On each 
side of the walk, and at intervals around the 
mound, are stone images, some of them quite 
large, of soldiers and priests, and horses and 
sheep and elephants. Often in Chosen and 
other Eastern lands such images are set up 
around the grave of a king. 

This green mound of earth is honored as 
the tomb of Kija, a great king of Chosen, who 
lived and died more than three thousand years 
ago. Of course no one knows for sure just 
where he was buried, but it is not unlikely that 
it was on this pleasant hillside overlooking 
the city that he built and the river that runs 
through it. 

About eight hundred years ago the people 
of Chosen, wishing to honor Kija, made this 
mound, and they have cared for it ever since. 
The wall around it now — ^^we saw it yesterday 
- — is nearly new. When the stone images get 
old and black, and so worn down that one can 
hardly tell what they are, new ones are made 
after the old patterns, and set up in their 
places. 

VARIOUS NAMES OF THE COUNTRY 

Though Kija lived so long ago, he was not 
the first king of Chosen. Long, long before 




.S 



(196) 



THE LAND OF MORNING CALM 197 

his day, there was a king who gave to the 
country the name Chosen, which means 
"Morning Calm." After he died, it was 
called by other names; but when Kija became 
king, he said, "We will call our land Chosen 
again, as it was in the old days." 

Since Kija's time, Chosen has been called 
by other names; but now this old, old name 
is used everywhere in the country. Often 
Chosen is spoken of as "The Land of Morn- 
ing Calm.'" When we are in Chosen, and see 
how still and lovely its mornings are, we un- 
derstand the reason for this name. 

At one time Chosen was called the Hermit 
Kingdom, because for more than two hundred 
years, like its neighbor Japan, it would not 
allow the people of Western lands to enter 
its borders. 

"The Land of Treeless Mountains" is an- 
other name given to Chosen by those who have 
in mind its bare hills in the south; but in the 
northern part of the country there are deep 
forests of large trees. 

One of the titles of the ruler of Chosen used 
to be "The King of Ten Thousand Islands," 
because of the large number of small islands 
around its coasts. 

JAPAN IN CHOSEN 

The history of Chosen is a long one — all 
about wars with China and Japan, and other 



108 STRANGE PEOPLES AND CUSTOMS 

sad things. You will read it by and by. I 
will only tell you now that not many years 
ago the country passed under the control 
of Japan. 

The people of Japan are very alert and 
busy. They mean to get ahead. But the 
people of Chosen are slow and placid. Many 
of the men who had to do with governing the 
country loved money more than an5i:hing else, 
so the time came when the weaker nation 
passed under the control of the stronger. 

In many ways Japan has helped Chosen. 
There are better roads in the country now 
than there used to be; and in every village of 
any size there is a school where the children 
are taught to read and write. Every so often, 
too, the people must clean their houses. We 
should think it w^as a queer thing, shouldn't 
we, if a policeman came to inquire why on a 
certain day we had not taken all our carpets 
outdoors, and spread out all our bedding to 
air? But that is what happens in Chosen in 
these days. 

Most of the people of Chosen are very poor, 
and they live in tiny houses, often all sleeping 
in one room. You know that dirt and what 
we call "germs" go together, and so you will 
not be surprised to hear that the people of 
Chosen are often ill. The terrible scourge of 
smallpox used to sweep over the land nearly 
every year. 



THE I>AXD OF MOllNING CALM 199 

If a mother was asked how manv children 
she had, she might say, ''Two," meaning two 
who had had smallpox. If there were little 
ones who had not had it, they were not 
counted till after the "honorable Guest," as 
they called the disease, had come. If the 
little ones lived, then they could be counted. 
At the present time all the children are vacci- 
nated, and this helps to keep the dreadful 
"Guest" awav. 

Airing the bedding in the sunshine and 
washing the clothes helps, too. Cleaning-up 
day is a good thing for Chosen. 

Of course you have cleaning-up day every 
day at your house. That is one reason you 
are so well and strong. 

AN OLD CITY 

Some of you have been in Washington, and 
seen its wide street that leads to the white 
building where men meet who make our laws, 
and you know that Washington is the capital 
of our dear country. We are in the capital 
city of another country now — Seoul, the capi- 
tal of Chosen. The city lies in a valley, with 
hills on three sides. Seoul is more" than five 
Imndred years old, and the great wall that 
inclosed all the old city, and was fourteen 
miles long, was built in two years. 

This great wall was from tw^enty to forty 
feet high and from ten to fifteen feet thick. 




This is a very fine gate a little way from the station in Seoul. 
It was formerly a part of the city wall. 

It was made of earth on the inside, faced on 
the outside with heavy stones. This stone 
facing was built up as high as a man's head 
above the inside wall of earth. In it were 
holes through which soldiers could shoot their 
arrows in battle. 

There are eight gates in the wall, four 
large gates and four smaller gates. Of course 
they have names — those by which they are 
commonly known being West Gate, Little 
West Gate, and so on. The Great South 
Gate and the Great East Gate are among the 
important sights of Seoul to-day. In the old 
days they had other names, very high-sound- 
ing, such as Gate of Brilliant Splendor, Gate 
of Exalted Ceremony, and so on. 

Not many years ago all these gates were 
shut in the evening when the curfew was 

(200) 



THE LAND OF MORNING CALM 201 

sounded. When the great bell of the city 
gave out its wailing notes, the heavy wooden 
gates were locked, and any one who was out- 
side would have to stay out, unless he was 
willing to risk losing his head if he climbed 
over the wall. 

But the city is growing fast, and wide 
streets filled with low houses and little shops 
are now built far beyond the large gates. 
Street cars run in and out nearly all night. 
The gates now serve only to remind the people 
of other times, like statues of great men that 
you have seen in the park. 

Chosen is a country of mountains. No mat- 
ter where one may go, he is always in sight 
of hills and valleys, and often high mountains 
seem to shut him in like a great wall. In the 
north there are many tigers in the mountains, 
and often they come down into the valleys in 
search of something to eat. The skins of these 
tigers are greatly prized, not only by the 
people of Chosen, but by the Japanese and 
the Chinese. 

QUEER CITIES AND VILLAGES 

Seoul is the largest city in Chosen; but if 
you were to stand on a hill and look down on 
it, as I did yesterday, you would think it a 
queer-looking city. Nearly all the houses are 
low, with gray tiled roofs. Seen from a dis- 
tance, the city looks as much like a great 




(202) 



THE LAND OF AfORXING CALM 208 

paved floor as anything else. Of course there 
are some taller buildings, put up by the Japa- 
nese and others, but the greater part of the 
city is very flat. 

When we climb a hillside in Chosen, and 
stand on its ridge, looking down on every side, 
it is fun to see how many little villages we can 
count. There are villages near and far, right 
at our feet and away at the edge of the 
valley. But how strange they look — not at 
all like our little towns, with white-painted 
houses, and red barns, and here and there a 
church pointing its finger-like steeple to the 
blue sky. 

No, these Chosen villages look like — straw 
stacks! Dozens of straw stacks, close to- 
gether. Sometimes one has to look very sharp 
to see them at all! 

There is a good reason for the houses' look- 
mg like straw stacks, and this is it: Their 
roofs are made of straw. The walls of the 
houses are of mud, with only enough timbers 
to hold in place the light strips on which the 
mud is plastered. Small poles hold up the 
straw roof. Such houses burn very quickly; 
and when a fire is once started* often 'it 
does not stop till every house in the village 
is burned. 

Most of the houses of Chosen are very 
small; but the families that live in them are 
large, for all the sons bring their wives home 
to stav. 




The floor of the native house is queer. You 
see, it is not only a floor, but it is the stove 
as well. The family would freeze in cold 
weather — and they have snow and real winter 
in Chosen — if it were not for the floor. Then, 
too, it is the bed for the whole family, and the 
chairs and sofas and hammocks besides! 

Would you like to know how the floor is 
made? First a number of flues, or tunnels, 
are made where the floor is to be. These flues 
reach clear across the room. Above them are 
laid thin stones. When these stones are all in 
place, the floor is covered with mud, very 
smooth, so not a crack is left through which 
smoke can come. Then, when the floor is dry, 
it is covered with thick, tough oiled paper. 
Those who cannot afford this paper may have 
straw mats. 

(204) 



THE LAND OF MORNING CALM 205 

"A paper floor!" you say, and think of your 
stout shoes and the scratches they sometimes 
make. You think a floor with a paper "car- 
pet" would not last very long. And so it 
wouldn't, in your house. But in Chosen all 
the children, and the grown-ups too, take their 
shoes off before they think of going into the 
room. There are times when I rather like the 
Chosen way, myself. 

Very few of the houses in Chosen are large. 
Many of them are so small that you would 
wonder how the family could ever get inside. 
But there is almost no furniture. In one 
such house that I was in, there were several 
old chests against the wall. These were for 
clothes. A tiny shelf held the few paper- 
covered books, for this was a Christian home, 
and the woman read the Bible. There were 
some quilts too, neatly folded and laid on 
the chests. 

HOW THE PEOPLE SLEEP 

When it is time to go to bed, the family all 
lie down on the floor, and spread the quilts 
over them. If they are well-to-do, they may 
have thick quilts to lie down on, besides. 
When they are sick, it is just the same; there 
is no other place to sleep except the floor, and 
at night the whole family use it. 

Every house has at least two rooms, this 
room that I have been telling you about, and 




The floor of a Chosen house is not only a floor, but a stove as well. 

a cook shed, where the fireplace is built. 
From this fireplace the heat enters the flues 
under the main room, and is carried along 
under the floor. Sometimes there are two 
rooms, with a little porch or platform between, 
and the cook shed at one side. 

If the family is well-to-do, there are of 
course more rooms, and they are larger. 
Often, when there are a number of them, they 
are built around a little open court, and here 
the household water jars, ironing sticks, gar- 
den tools, and other things are kept. In 
pleasant weather, food is prepared here, and 
sewing and other work is done. Here, too, 
the little brown babies play in the sun, and 
learn to take their first steps. 

(206) 



THE LAND OF MORNING CALM 207 

Yesterday was Sabbath. In the afternoon 
we went for a walk on the hills back of our 
mission compound. They are sandy hills, with 
scrubby pine trees growing all over them. 
Sometimes bright azaleas and other flowers 
are found. 

The people of Chosen like to bury their 
dead on a hillside. Their graves are very 
pretty — large grassy mounds, with a ridge 
of earth thrown up around them on three 
sides, and an open place in front, looking 
toward the valley. When you are on a hill- 
side, there is almost always a lovely view 
in Chosen, and the people believe that the 
spirits of the dead like to have a pleasant 
outlook. Often these large graves can be seen 
for miles. 

At sunset we stopped at a temple hidden 
in a little ravine. There was a good-sized 
house in front. Here the priestesses lived, 
and the people who took care of the temple. 
The priestesses had shaven heads and gray 
robes, and they bowed and prayed for a long 
time before the images of Buddha. 

A real feast was offered before the ancestral 
tablets of some man, whose relatives had their 
own lunch spread on the ground outside. 
There were bowls heaping full of rice, white 
and dry; crisp little cakes, piles of sweetened 
and salted seaweed, some nice fruit, and other 
things. A bottle of beer was also placed be- 



208 STRANGE PEOPLES AND CUSTOMS 

fore the most important tablet — but the men 
laughed when they put it there. 

Little boys no larger than many of you 
carried the bowls of rice away after they had 
been set before the tablets and the images. 
The oldest son of the dead man took part too. 
He lifted the rice bowls up and down, and 
waved sticks of incense, and repeated prayers. 
It looked very strange, and very sad, to see 
the other relatives, in foreign clothes, going 
through this worship. 

In the house near by, lying on the floor, 
was a fat baby, asleep. His face and hands 
were black with flies. Sometimes we wonder 
how it is that any of the children of Chosen 
live to grow up at all. 

WORSHIPING EVIL SPIRITS 

We were glad to leave this place, and walk 
home under the trees. \ The main religion of 
the people of Chosen is the worship of evil 
spirits. They believe that the hills and the 
valleys and the woods and the air are full of 
these spirits, and that all they think of is to 
hurt men. So they try to please them. They 
believe that if the spirits think they like them, 
they will not hurt them. 

Ancestor worship and Buddhism are also 
united with this worship of evil spirits; so it 
is easy to see how much the people need the 
gospel of Jesus. 



THE LAND OF MORNING CALM 209 

Nearly a hundred and forty years aeo a 
young man from Chosen, while on a visit in 
China, heard of Jesus. When he went home 
he began at once to tell his friends about 
Jesus and many loved Him. Of course the 
Christian religion forbids the worship of one's 
ancestors, or making offerings to tablets of 
wood on which their names are written- so 
very soon the Christians in Chosen were told 

rehion^^' ^^^"^ ^"^ ^'^^ "P *^''" "^"^ 

In the years that followed, thousands of 
Chosen Christians were put to death. Others 
fled to the barren hills, and died of cold and 
hunger. From time to time good men went to 
Chosen to teach the people, but many of them 
were killed too. 

TT^^.IfA ^y signing a treaty with the 
United States of America, Chosen opened her 
doors to the peoples of Western lands. In 
the years that followed, many missionaries 
came; and at the present time there are thou- 
sands of persons in Chosen who have given up 
their evil worship, and who love and trv to 
serve the Lord Jesus.J? 

OUR WORK IN CHOSEN 

There are schools where the boys can go to 
school, and hospitals where those who are sick 
can be nursed and cared for. 

In 1904 a man from Chosen was in Kobe, 
one of the large cities of Japan. Our own 



14 



210 STRANGE PEOPLES AND CUSTOMS 

mission has a meeting hall in that city; and 
this man passed the door one evening, and 
stopped to read the sign. When he was in- 
vited to come in, he entered. He could not 
talk with the man who asked him in; but they 
could both read the writing that is used in 
China, so they began to visit in writing. 

In this way the man from Chosen heard the 
good news that Jesus is soon coming. He 
was glad to hear it, and brought a friend to 
study with him. Before they went away 
from Kobe, both these men were baptized. 

One of them went home to Chosen, and 
soon a call came from that ancient land for 
some one to come and teach the people. In 
a few weeks there were nine Sabbath schools 
in the little villages of Chosen. 

Other missionaries came, and began to 
work. Now we have a school, and a printing 
office, and a dispensary where sick people 
come to get help. We have also mission 
homes and a number of earnest workers in 
Chosen. The printing office is at Seoul; but 
the school and the dispensary are at Soonan. 





These little girls of 
Chosen are dressed 
in their best. 
They enjoy their 
bright-colored hair 
ribbons, which are 
different from any 
you ever saw. 




CHAPTER XVI 



BOYS AND GIRLS OF CHOSEN 

THESE are days of change in the an- 
cient land of Chosen; so it does not do 
to say, Things are this way, or. Things 
are that way. Many new ways are coming 
into the land; but still the old ways are seen, 
and we like to know about them. " 

TWO CLASSES OF PEOPLE 

Not many years ago there were only two 
classes of people in Chosen, the nobles and the 
low men. The nobles were called yangbans, 
and the common people were called hains. 
But of course there were some nobles whose 
position was a little higher than that of others, 
and some low men who were not quite so poor 
and wretched as their neighbors. 

(211) 



212 STRANGE PEOPLES AND CUSTOMS 

The yangbans were an idle class. Above 
all things they hated the thought of work, and 
would not SO much as light their own pipes if 
they could help it. They considered it be- 
neath their dignity to hurry, no matter what 
was the need; and as for carrying any sort of 
bundle along the street, they would not think 
of such a thing. If a low man was riding on 
a horse, and met a yangban, he must get 
off his steed, and wait till the yangban had 
passed. Even if he came to the house of a 
yangban, he must get off and walk till he 
had left it behind. 

When a yangban went for a stroll, he was 
worth seeing. His full, baggy trousers and 
his long, flowing coat were of spotless white 
or of bright green or blue or purple silk. 
His shoes were white, with graceful pointed 
toes, turned up and back. Sometimes they 
were embroidered with great care. I have 
heard it said that they were "the most beauti- 
ful shoes in the world;" but they took a great 
deal of time to make, and soon lost their fresh- 
ness, so nowadays every one who has the 
money to pay for leather shoes buys them. 

On his head the yangban wore a tall hat of 
finely woven bamboo, painted black, and under 
this a thin, small hat of woven horsehair, and 
under this a tight-fitting band to hold his 
coiled hair in place. In his hand, in the sum- 
mer time, he carried a fan, which he waved 



BOYS AND GIRLS OF CHOSEN 213 

slowly in front of his face, or held before his 
eyes. The crowning touch was a pair of large 
spectacles with bone rims. 

The clothes of the nobles and of the low 
men are all made on the same pattern, only 
those of the nobles are of richer, finer cloth. 
The poor men wear garments of coarse white 
cotton; sometimes their long coats are gray. 
There are no buttons, but the garments are 
fastened together with two narrow, ribbon-like 
strips of cloth. These are tied on the left 
side in a single bowknot with long ends. In 
the winter these garments are thickly padded 
with cotton to keep out the cold. 

THE BOYS OF CHOSEN 

The boys of Chosen are a good deal like 
boys in other places. They like to play games, 
and at certain seasons all the boys seem to be 
doing the same thing. At one time they are 
flying kites; then they make swings of straw 
rope, and have great fun swinging. The men 
like this sport too. I have seen swings on a 
country road, near a little group of houses, 
where the boys would swing. Once a year, 
too, they have a season of "stone fights," but 
really this sport is too dangerous to call a 
game. 

The oldest boy in a family is the one to 
whom all the others must defer. He is spoken 
to by the others as "my honorable elder 



214 



STRANGE PEOPLES AND CUSTOMS 



brother;" and whatever he says, must be done. 
If his father dies, he will have the little home, 
if there is any, and will be the one to tell what 
all shall do. 

Chosen has also another title, which I have 
not yet told you — "The Land of the Top- 
knot." This is because the men wear their 
hair in a little roll, or "topknot," on top of 




In Chosen, meal is ground on a flat stone. The men 

wear their hair in a little roll, or "topknot," on top 

of their heads. 



BOYS AND GIRLS OF CHOSEN 215 

their heads. Over it is worn a tight band. 
Men of the better class wear over this band 
the small, finely woven horsehair caps I have 
told you of. Outside of this is worn the bam- 
boo hat, which is so small in the crown that it 
must always be tied on. Just now the people 
are in mourning, because of the death of their 
former king, and thousands of them are wear- 
ing white or cream-colored hats instead of 
black ones, as white is the mourning color. 

There are three kinds of talk in Chosen — 
''high talk,'' "low talk," and "middle talk." 
"Low talk" is used in speaking to children 
and servants; "middle talk" is used in speak- 
ing to friends and equals; and "high talk" is 
used when speaking to old people or those to 
whom it is desired to show honor. 

When they are little, the boys of Chosen 
wear their hair in a braid hanging down their 
backs; and as long as they wear it this way, 
they are always spoken to in "low talk." 
When their hair is drawn up on top of the 
head, and the braid is coiled into a knot, the 
boy is looked up to as a man, and from that 
time he is spoken to in "high talk." 

But the time when this topknot may be 
worn does not depend on the boy's age, as you 
might think. If his parents have found a 
little girl, and have arranged with her parents 
that by and by their son may have her for his 
wife, up goes his hair, the first thing. And 



216 STRANGE PEOPLES AND CUSTOMS 

then, what with his horsehair eap, and his 
queer round hat, and always being spoken to 
in "high talk," he has more honor than ever. 

At a railway station the other day I saw a 
little boy with a round, chubby face, and red 
cheeks, and shining black eyes. His hair was 
in a topknot, and he felt himself to be quite a 
man, though he could not have been more than 
eleven or twelve years old. 

The trousers and jackets worn by the boys 
are of white, but outside they wear long loose 
coats of bright colors. You would not care 
much for a pink silk coat reaching to your 
heels; but any Chosen boy of your age would 
think it a fine thing to have, and be very proud 
of it. Sometimes their coats are bright green, 
or red, or yellow. Sometimes they are of 
"many colors," like Joseph's. 

But whatever the Chosen boy's clothes are 
made of, they do not stay clean very long ; and 
even when they are soiled, he must wear them 
a long time. However, this does not seem to 
trouble him. All together the boj^s seem to 
have the best of it in Chosen. 

THE GIRLS OF CHOSEN 

Some of my readers were very happy when 
a little sister came to their house. They were 
taught to be kind and polite to her. She 
shares their toys, and pla^^s in some of their 
games. They love her dearly, and so do 
father and mother. 




If there is in the house- 
hold a little girl old 
enough to carry the baby, 
it is tied to her back in- 
stead of the mother's ; 
and whether at work or 
at play, she must carry 
the heavy load. 



But it is not this way with little girls in 
Chosen. The fathers and mothers are glad 
for the little boys, but unless they already 
have sons, they do not rejoice when a little 
girl is born. If the family is poor, — and most 
of the families are very poor indeed, — and 
there are no boys, they are sad when a baby 
girl comes. 

The names that are given to baby girls 
show how very little they are thought of. 
Sometimes they are called First, Secondly, 
and so on. Little Calf, Little Pig, Golden 
Rat, and other such names are common. 
Many little girls are called Sorrowful; but 
sometimes one is given a name that shows 
that even if her mother was not happy when 
she came, she loved her baby. Po Pai, or 

(217) 



218 STRANGE PEOPLES AND CUSTOMS 

"Treasurer Cluii Poki, or "True Blessing:" 
Chin Sil, or "Faithful f and Suki, or "Clear;" 
are a few such names. Do Sin, meaning "A 
Gu'l Again," is often used; so is Kun Aki, 
"Big Baby," and Chokun Aki, or "Little 
Baby." But any name lasts only till the girl 
is married. Then she is spoken to in "low 
talk" and called "thing." If by and by she 
has a little son, she is spoken of as his mother. 

Even at its best the life of a little girl in 
Chosen is not a happy one. All that women 
are thought to be good for is to work. And 
as little girls grow up to be women, they are 
taught to work too. As soon as the girl child 
is old enough, the baby of the household is 
fastened onto her back, and whether she is at 
work or at play, the heavy baby nmst be 
carried. This might be fun for a time, but 
you know that even a little girl or a little boy 
may get tired. 

In former days not many girls in Chosen 
lived with their parents after they were twelve 
years old. At that age or even younger, the 
girl was sent to the home of the boy to whom 
she was to be married. The boy's mother 
taught her any kind of work that she did not 
already know, and from morning till night her 
little brown hands were busy at something. 
If her parents were very poor, they might 
send the little girl to the home of her mother- 
in-law when she was onlv three vears old. 




The clothes are not ironed, but are beaten with round sticks, till 
smooth and Rlossy. Often the tumpity-tump-tump-tump of the iron- 
ing-sticks is heard late at night in the little mud huts. 

Now there is a law that changes all this. No 
girl may be married till she is seventeen years 
old. But there is no law that says she must 
not work from morning till night. 

LAUNDRY WORK IN ClIOSEN 

You might think that where the houses are 
so small, there would not be much work to do. 
But this is not true. In the first place, so 
many white clothes make lots of washing; and 
the men like very well to have their clothes 
white and shining, as long as they do not have 
to do the work themselves. 

The ironing is not done with a hot iron, 
such as we use, but with "ironing sticks." 

(219) 



220 STRANGE PEOPLES AND CUSTOMS 

The dry garment is laid on a flat stone, or 
wrapped closely around a smooth board, and 
then two women sit down in front of it, on the 
ground, and beat it with the round sticks till 
it has a smooth, shining surface. 

This is hard work, and it takes a long time 
to "iron" one garment in this way, as you can 
imagine. Often the tumpity-tump-tump-tump 
of the ironing-sticks is heard late at night in 
the little mud huts, where the women are get- 
ting the clothes smooth for the men of the 
household. 

Another way I have seen the women iron is 
this : charcoal, glowing red, is placed in a sort 
of dipper, or skillet, made of brass, and having 
a long handle. Two or three w^omen take hold 
of the edges of a garment, and hold it out 
tight in front of them; then another woman 
rubs over it with the smooth bottom of this 
heated skillet. 

Both these ways are hard enough. I should 
not know which to choose. 

The washing is often done by the bank of a 
stream, and perhaps the girls and w^omen get 
a little fun out of it, when the day is warm, 
and the water not too cold. But sometimes in 
w^inter they have to break a hole through the 
ice, and dip the clothes up and down in the 
cold water till their fingers are blue and ach- 
ing. No one thinks of using hot water to 
wash clothes with, for hot water means fire, 



BOYS AND GIRLS OF CHOSEN 221 

and fire means fuel, and fuel of all kinds is 
scarce and high-priced in poor Chosen. 

It would be hard enough, you would sup- 
pose, to keep these white clothes, which look 
so nice when they are clean, washed and 
ironed, the way the work has to be done; but 
what will you think when I tell you that these 
clothes have to be partly ripped apart every 
time they are washed, and then sewed together 
afterward! And all by hand! 

MUCH HARD WORK 

. Then, too, all the water that is used to cook 
the food and for other things must be brought 
from a stream or from the village well. The 
women carry this water in earthen jars on 
their heads, and it is a common sight to see 
them at evening by the village well, drawing 
up the water, pouring it into jars, and moving 
away with one arm raised to keep the load 
steady. It makes a pretty picture, but it is 
very tiresome work. 

Then there is meal to be ground on the flat 
stone mill, and a large supply of pickles and 
relishes to be made; for no one likes to eat his 
rice ^'plam" if he can get something to eat 
with It. Besides, there is work to do in the 
fields, getting the ground ready for the crop, 
planting and caring for the grain, cutting it 
when It is ripe, threshing it out (all by hand, 
too), and stacking up the straw. 




(222) 



3iOYS AND GIRLS OF CHOSEN 223 

There is no end to the work, and the girls 
who are sent to be trained by their mothers-in- 
law are hardly better than shives. The only 
happiness they look forward to is the time 
when they may have a little son; and there is 
not much pleasure in that, for even young 
boys look down on their mothers, and do not 
obey and honor them. 

CLOTHING OF WOMEN 

All the women dress alike. The clothes of 
a rich woman may be softer and finer and 
cleaner than those of her poorer sister, but 
they are made after the same style — a long, 
full skirt, tied on just under the arms, and a 
very short jacket with high neck and long 
sleeves. Sometimes these jackets are of 
pretty, colored silks; often they are plain 
white, like the skirt. 

The little girls wear clothes made on the 
same pattern, with long skirts coming down 
to their heels. Sometimes their silken jackets 
are very pretty. Their hair is braided — in 
two or more braids when it is short, and in one 
braid when the girl is older. Then, if her 
parents love her, she will have a "hair ribbon" 
— but like nothing you have seen. It will be 
a piece of dark red silk, folded and stitched 
in a strip about three inches wide, and em- 
broidered. Perhaps there will be a little 
fringe and a tassel at the end. When her 



224 STRANGE PEOPLES AND CUSTOMS 

hair is all safely tied with a bit of thread or 
yarn, this "bow" — which is not a bow at all — 
is fastened on. 

There are many queer sights in Chosen to 
one who has not lived there a long time. One 
is the "mourner's hat" — an immense basket- 
like hat that comes down over the head and 
hides the face when the wearer w^ishes it to do 
so. In the country the w^omen who go abroad 
sometimes carry a still larger basket over 
their heads to hide them from public gaze. In 
Seoul the women used to wear a long green 
silk veil made like a man's coat, with sleeves 
near the top, for the same purpose. Nowa- 
days the women carry an umbrella when they 
go out in the street, even if there is no rain, 
and the sun is not hot. It is used to hide the 
face, and takes the place of the veil and the 
basket-like hat. 

But our greatest interest in any coimtry is 
not the things that the people do that look 
strange to us, but that all who will may know 
Jesus. 




The school and mission homes at Soonan were purchased 
with money given in our Sabbath schools at home. 



CHAPTER XVII 



MISSION WORK IN CHOSEN 

WE had been riding on the train for 
a long time, and by and by my hus- 
band said: "Look! Here we are! 
There are the mission homes!" I looked out 
the car window, and saw on a hill two square 
houses that I knew must be the ones. There 
were no others like them to be seen. It was 
raining very hard, and we got our things 
together, and when the train stopped, he got 
out, and I handed them through the window 
to him, and got off as quick as I could, for 
the train does not stop very long. 

(225) 

15 



The jiggy is a great 
help to men who 
must carry heavy 
loads for long dis- 
tances. Often one 
sees a jiggy loaded 
with straw shoes, or 
with earthen jugs, 
or with grass, or 
wood, or fagots. 



MISSION WORK IN CHOSEN 227 

A friend who was with us said he would 
stay and ook after the baggage (which we 
put in a shed), so we started to walk up the 
iiUl to the mission homes. The folks would 
have been glad to meet us, but the telegram 
we had sent to them did not reach them till 
the next day That is often the way with 
ietters and telegrams in Chosen — thev come 
too late to be of much use. 

On the way up the hill, we meet Doctor 
Russell. He had been called far out in the 
country to see a sick man, and his motorcycle 
Jiad broken down, so he had to leave it, and 
walk home in the rain. He was wet and his 
shoes were muddy, but he was smiling and 
iiappy, as a missionary ought to be, no matter 
It he IS havmg things hard. I wonder some- 
times It missionaries are the only people who 
ought to be like that. What do you think? 
Ihe school and the dispensary are at 

thTtZ'H T%xFT *"?".''" ^^^ "PhiU path 
that leads to the two mission homes. A little 

burro with tinkling bells comes slowly down 

the steep hill; but when we send for our heavy 

trunks and boxes they are brought up by men. 

..Each one of these men has on his back a 

mgy, which IS a sort of frame, made of two 

slender pine trees, each one having a little 

hmb growing out of the main trunk. When 

the little hmb was large enough, the tree had 

been cut down, and all the branches but this 



228 STRANGE PEOPLES AND CUSTOMS 

one taken away. A short piece of this branch 
was left, SO the tree trunk looked something 
like the illustration on page 226. 

Two of these slender poles, each with its 
little branch, are fastened together with ropes. 
Other ropes or bands are fastened on them, 
so the man who is to carry the load can slip 
his arms into them. When it is in place, the 
jiggy rests on his back, from his shoulders to 
his hips. The jiggy is a great help to farmers, 
and peddlers, and other men who must carry 
heavy loads for a long distance. Often one 
sees a jiggy loaded with straw shoes, or with 
earthen jugs, or with grass, or wood, or fagots. 

When we reach the mission houses, we are 
glad to stop, even though we have had no load 
to carry. There are fruit trees on the hillside 
in front of the houses, and grapes, and straw- 
berries in blossom, and lettuce and peas in the 
garden. We are happy to know that the 
money that has been given in our Sabbath 
schools at home has provided these pleasant 
places for our missionaries in Chosen to live in. 

For even with a comfortable, clean house, 
with a yard where the children may play, 
and a garden, the missionaries are sometimes 
lonely. Often there are not more than two 
families in a place, and sometimes there is 
only one. All the rest of the people are 
strange, and their ways are different. It takes 
a long time to get letters from home, and they 




Dispensary at Soonan, Korea, where thousands of sick people come — 
some of them carried on a canvas or a board. 

do not have much money for books, and 
almost none for papers and magazines. The 
only music they have is often a wheezy, creaky 
little organ. 

So I am always glad when I see a garden 
near the house, and perhaps a phonograph 
inside. That means that they can have fresh 
vegetables in summer, and that they can hear 
the songs and marches and other music of 
home once in a while. And how cheering it 
is to hear "Sweet Hour of Prayer" and other 
songs in this way on Sabbath evenings! 

Looking down on the valley from the front 
porch of one of the mission houses, we see the 
straw-roofed town of Soonan. It is a market 
town, and every so often the people from the 
country districts bring the cloth they have 
woven, and the brass dishes they have made, 

(229) 



230 STRANGE PEOPLES AND CUSTOMS 

and the vegetables they have raised, to the 
market to sell. It is a very busy time when 
market day comes. 

In the center of the town is the schoolhoiise, 
an old building that has been fixed over for 
the purpose. It was built for the Chinese am- 
bassador to rest in when he came to Seoul once 
a year in the old days, and when he was going 
back to Peking after his visit was over. 

We catch glimpses, too, of the road over 
which these ambassadors and their guards 
used to travel. It is said to have been at one 
time the only good road in Chosen, and it was 
surely the longest one, as it ran from Seoul, 
the capital city of Chosen, to Peking, the 
capital cit}^ of China. So this little straw- 
roofed town, so quiet and so far away, has an 
old history, and has been the scene of many 
a gay pageant in days now past forever. 

Hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of 
sick people come to the tiny dispensary every 
year. Doctor Russell and Mrs. Russell bind 
up these people's sores, and give them hot 
baths, and put drops in their sore eyes, and 
tell them how to take care of themselves to 
keep well. They also tell them the good news 
that Jesus loves them, and is coming again. 
Sick babies and little boys who have stubbed 
their toes till they bleed are cared for, and 
women who are too sick to walk are sometimes 
carried on a canvas or a board for many 



MISSION WORK IN CHOSEN 231 

miles. Every day .is a busy day at the dis- 
pensary. 

We are in another mission house here. 
There are two houses, one a small cottage, and 
the other larger and on slightly higher ground, 
so there is more breeze and a better vi(^w. 
Back of the houses is a high hill, which is 
green and pretty to look at. At night the 
shadow of the hill creeps down and down as 
the sun goes low and lower, till it reaches the 
mission home, the fields in front, and the little 
village itself. 

• Keizan is just a country place. There are 
no stores where foreign things can be bought; 
so if the folks want to get a piece of ice or 
some canned milk or a sack of flour or sugar 

(things we like to have right handy by), they 
have to go on the train to the town of Tai- 
kyu, ten miles away. How would you like 
that? It takes all day to go and come home 
— not that it is so far, but because there are 
few trains. 

A WONDERFUL SPRING 

On the side of the hill back of the mission 
homes, there is a spring that people come to 
visit at certain times. They believe that if 
they bathe in its water, they will be cured of 
any disease they may have. One day I saw 
a little procession of women, all dressed in 
their best clothes, walking past the house, 
through the fields, and up the hill. Nearly 



■i^^^^ 




The way Chosen 
women dress, and 
the way they carry 
their babies. The 
style of dress is the 
same for women 
of all classes, rich 
or poor, though the 
material used may 
be very different. 




every one was carrying a child on her back. 
As they walked, they talked or sang. 

These children were sick. Some of them 
had dreadful sores on their arms and backs; 
and their mothers hoped that by coming to 
this spring and dipping the children in it, or 
pouring a little of its water over them, they 
would be healed. 

I think myself that water would have 
helped, — any water, if it had been just a 
little warm, with plenty of good soap, and a 
soft towel and cleansing powder afterward. 
But these mothers do not have these things. 
So they were doing the best they knew. 

Some of them had walked a long distance 
in the hot sun, getting up very early in the 
morning to start, and they would not get back 
to their little mud houses till after dark. 

They rested a while by the edge of the 
spring, and then came to the foreign house 
to have a "sight see." They always like to 

(232) 



MISSION WORK IN CHOSEN 233 

look through the missionary's home, and ex- 
amine the furniture, and feel of the curtains. 
They like especially to see the kitchen. 

TREATING THE AFFLICTED 

Mrs. Oberg met them kindly, and took 
them into the kitchen, and showed them all 
her kettles and pans. Afterward they sat 
down on the wide front porch, and she talked 
to them about the gospel. She washed one 
poor little boy, who had two great sores on 
his back. They had been made by burning 
his flesh with a hot iron. 

''Why did they do this cruel thing?" you ask. 

Oh, he was sick, and they thought that by 
burning him in this way, the evil spirit that 
was making him ill would be driven out! 

Of course his mother did not keep the 
burned places clean, and germs got in, ^and 
now the child was in a sad state. When his 
poor little back was washed, and healing pow- 
der had been dusted on, with soft white cloths 
to cover him, he felt more comfortable; but 
we knew he could not stay clean very long. 

Often sick children are brought to this mis- 
sionary mother, and she does all she can to 
help them. Her own baby girl, so fair and 
sweet and clean and well, shows how different 
is the life of a child whose parents have the 
blessings that come through the gospel, from 
that of children who live in a heathen home. 



234 STRANGE PEOPLES AND CUSTOMS 

While I was writing in the little study one 
day, I heard a queer wailing sound; and look- 
ing out across the valley, I saw hundreds of 
the white, straight figures that look so much 
like sticks in the distance. These figures were 
moving back and forth, back and forth, and 
by and by I saw that they were following a 
bier, which was carried slowly along. 

All day the wailing kept up, and toward 
evening we went over to see; for they had 
taken the bier into a yard, and the people 
were eating and drinking there. 

The coffin was gayly decorated, and rested 
on a bier that was painted green and red and 
yellow. A canopy was held in place above. 
In front of the coffin was a hideous face 
painted on paper. This was to be carried 
before it to frighten away evil spirits. Long 
white banners, with black letters, were waving 
here and there. 

All night the people waited ; and in the 
morning, just as the red sun came slowly up 
over the gray, misty hills at the east of the 
valley, I saw the long procession start, and 
heard again the mournful wailing sound. 
First came the men with the waving banners, 
then the spirit chair, the coffin, and the chief 
mourners, and after them the people who were 
there to see, or who hoped to share in the food 
and the wine. There were many men and 



MISSION WORK IN CHOSEN 235 

boys with banners and lanterns, and each one 
seemed to do his share of wailing. 

I watched them as long as I could see. 
They were going to walk about ten miles, we 
were told, where a grave site had been bought 
on a mountain side. 

As I have already told you, the people of 
Chosen like to bury their dead in pleasant 
places on a hillside. But in these days the 
Japanese make burying grounds near every 
village, and have a law that the people shall 
be buried in them. This is really a sensible 
law, for a great deal of land that would have 
furnished food for the people has been used 
for graves in Chosen, in other days. 

But the Chosen people are just like other 
folks; they like their own ways of doing 
things. The old man whose funeral I have 
just told you about was well-to-do, and his 
sons did not wish to bury him in the village 
cemetery. So by paying a good deal of 
money, they were allowed to take him far 
away into the hills, and bury him according 
to the old, custom. 

I have hardly begun to tell you of the in- 
teresting things that we see in Chosen; but 
I shall not write any more about this land just 
now. I hope that whenever you hear in Sab- 
bath school a call from Chosen, you will help 
all you can, and I am sure you will. 




The Philippine Islands 



(236) 







This Filipino 


















woman washes her 










clothes with a 








mm HMii ,1 


washing paddle, 
and smokes while 
she works. The 
front steps of her 








w . 


house are not very 
easy to climb, yet 


WBBIBBI Wk ^m^Sit ' ''^ 






Sal^iCfe * c.^^^ i -•* 


even the tiny chil- 


..^i ,, ,,. . ■jftti^-'A^'''- , „ ,, 






--^S'-' 


dren learn to go 








up and down very 
readily. 










1 



CHAPTER XVIII 

THE PHILIPPINE ISLANDS 

ON a pleasant, sunny day in October, 
we left Shanghai again. This time we 
went aboard a small boat going to 
Foochow, in South China. After our visit 
there, we went to Amoy, then to Swatow 
and Canton. In all these places our missiona- 
ries are working, telling the Good News to 
the people of this great land. 

Three days ago we were in Hongkong, 
where we went aboard a fine large boat sailing 
for Manila, in the Philippine Islands. 

The strip of water between Hongkong and 
Manila is one of the places on the sea that is 
always hard for travelers who easily get sea- 
sick. I am thankful for a place where I can 
lie very quiet, and wait till the days pass that 

(237) 



238 STRANGE PEOPLES AND CUSTO^IS 

bring us to the wide, calm, lovely harbor of 
Manila, known as JNIanila Bay. 

There is one thing we like especially about 
this blue bay. Floating out on the pleasant 
morning air from the sterns of dozens of little 
launches, puffing importantly to and fro, is 
our own "Star Spangled Banner." jNIy hus- 
band touches his hat, and says, "It looks good, 
doesn't it?" For the flag of any country looks 
good to the people who love that country. 

Manila Bay is the harbor for the city of 
Manila, the largest and most hnportant town 
in the Philippines. Japan, you remember, is 
said to have more than four thousand islands, 
little and big. The Philippines have more 
than three thousand, and of these nearly 
eleven hundred are large enough and fertile 
enough for people to live on. Luzon, Minda- 
nao, Mindoro, Cebu, Negros, Panay, Samar, 
Leyte, Bohol, and Palawan are the largest 
islands of the Philippine group. 

STRANGE PEOPLE OF THE PHILIPPINES 

A long time ago a race of very small, almost 
black men, with black e^^es and frizzly, kinky 
hair, lived in these islands. We call them 
Negritos. They wandered here and there, and 
lived chiefly on roots, wild fruits, and fish. 
Sometimes they shot birds and small game 
with their arrows. 

Their houses, or shelters, — for they could 
hardly be called houses, — were very small and 



THE PHILIPPINE ISLANDS 239 

poor. It is said that a man could easily build 
one of them in half an hour, so you see it could 
not be much of a house. They had no beds, no 
tables, no dishes, no blankets. All they used 
the shelter for was to sleep under it at night, 
or rest beneath its shade during the day. 

THE MALAYS 

By and by, from other islands far away to 
the south, families of Malays came to these 
islands. Perhaps a man living in one of these 
far-off islands would decide to look for a 
new home. So he would take all his family 
into a long boat, and they would set out. 
If there was no storm to overturn their boat, 
they might reach one of these islands. Then 
they would go from one island to another 
till they found a place that suited them, and 
there they would build a number of small 
houses, made of bamboo and palm leaves. 

The families were large. The grandfather 
and his sons and his sons' sons, and all their 
wives and all their children, with many slaves, 
sometimes belonged to one family. The 
grandfather was called the datu. He was the 
chief man of the little village made by the big 
family. Later these villages were called har- 
rios by the Spaniards; and this name is used 
to-day, so that we say the "barrio of San 
Juan," instead of the village of San Juan. 

As the Malays came, the Negritos went 
farther back into the hills to live, just as the 



240 ^ STRANGE PEOPLES AND CUSTOMS 

Indians of America went farther and farther 
west when the white men came to their coun- 
try. Small groups of Negritos are living here 
and there in the different islands of the Philip- 
pines to-day. 

The new Malay families grew into large 
groups called tribes. The men of one tribe 
were often fighting the men of another tribe. 
When some of them were defeated, and com- 
pelled to go off into the mountains or to 
another island, they founded a new tribe. 
And while for many years the people of these 
islands have been under a central government, 
still there is not always the best of feeling 
between the tribes, even to this day. 

THE MOROS 

One of the most warlike and cruel tribes 
were the Moros. They live in the southern 
islands. In the old days they were pirates. 
They would build a fleet of long, swift boats, 
called prahus, and sometimes with more than 
a thousand men they would sail and row 
along the coast to some place which they had 
decided to rob. 

The peaceful tribes were afraid of the Mo- 
ros. In Luzon they built watchtowers along 
the coast, at points where they could look a 
long way out to sea. When they saw a fleet 
of Moro boats coming, they sent word to the 
people, and they all ran off to the woods and 
hills as fast as they could. If the Moros 



THE PHILIPPINE ISLANDS 241 

caught any one, they took him off to be a 
slave. After they had taken everything they 
wanted from a village, they set fire to the 
houses, and destroyed the grain and the trees, 
leaving the people without shelter or food. 
But this was not so bad as being taken off to 
become slaves. 

WHEN MAGELLAN CAME TO THE ISLANDS 

I have already told you about the long voy- 
age made by that great sailor, Fernando Ma- 
gellan. With five little ships he set out from 
Spain, and after many hardships and dangers, 
reached South America, and sailed through 
the straits there into the Pacific Ocean. 

No man had ever gone so far that way 
before, but Magellan wished to go farther. 
One of his boats stole away, and another was 
shipwrecked; but when some of the men who 
were left begged to turn back, Magellan said : 
"No, we will go on, even if we have to eat the 
leather from the masts." 

So they went on. And when their food was 
all gone, they did eat the leather from the 
masts, and some other things that were no 
better. The water was low in the casks, too, 
and what there was smelled very bad. Many 
of the sailors were ill. 

But they kept on, and by and by they came 
to a group of islands where they anchored 
their ships, and went on shore to get food and 

16 




A Negrito chief and 
his family, and a little 
Igor rote girl. The Ne- 
gritos are very small, 
almost black men, 
with black eyes and 
frizzly, kinky hair. 




fresh water. Magellan called these islands 
the Ladrone Islands. Here he and his sailors 
rested a few days; then on they sailed again 
to the west. 

By and by they came to this large group of 
islands. The first one of the group that they 
saw was Samar. This was on March 15, 1521. 
Magellan did not stop here but at a smaller 
island. The sailors were glad to go on shore 
and to rest. Those who were sick grew strong 
again. 

After a while they sailed on to another 
island. Here Magellan and his men, dressed 
in their very best clothes, went on shore, and, 
kneeling down, thanked God for keeping them 

(242) 



THE PHILIPPINE ISLANDS 243 

all the long journey. Then they fired off all 
their cannon, and built a cross on a hill, to 
show that from that day these islands be- 
longed to the king of Spain. 

Next Magellan went to Cebu, and anchored 
his boats near that island. He said that the 
datu, or oldest grandfather, on Cebu, should 
be the king of all the islands, for the king 
of Spain. 

This made trouble at once. The people of 
Opon, a village on the small island of Mactan, 
just across a narrow channel from Cebu, did 
not wish the datu of Cebu to be their king. 
By and by Magellan asked them to send him 
some food. They said they would send some, 
but not so much as he asked. This they did 
to show that they did not intend to submit to 
him, or to his new king. 

So Magellan unwisely went over to Mactan 
to punish these people, and compel them to do 
as he wished. He took forty-nine men with 
him. He thought he would have no trouble 
at all in subduing these savages. 

But in the fight that followed, Magellan 
and his men had the worst of it. Magellan 
lost his spear, and was struck down in the 
shallow water near the shore, and died there. 
His soldiers quickly got into their small boats, 
and rowed back to their ships, and began to 
get ready to go away. 

Before they went, the datu of Cebu asked 
them very politely to come to a feast. Twen- 



244 STRANGE PEOPLES AND CUSTOMS 

ty- eight men went, but that was their last 
feast. They were attacked, and every one 
was killed. 

Soon after this the Spaniards sailed away. 
There were only one hundred and eight men 
left — not enough for three ships — so they 
burned one of them, and thus the little fleet 
of five was reduced to two. 

In a few years other Spanish fleets crossed 
the Pacific, and stopped at these islands for 
food and water. The captain of one of them, 
wishing to please the people of an island 
which had sent him some very good rice, called 
it Philippina, in honor of the son of the king 
of Spain, whose name was Philip. In this 
way the islands came to be called the Philip- 
pinas Islands, or the Philippines. The people 
who live in these islands are called Filipinos. 

As we came into the Bay of Manila, we 
passed Corregidor, a large island which has 
been used from the earliest times as a lookout 
post. Men on this high rocky island can see 
for a long distance over the ocean. In the old 
days, if the watchmen saw a Chinese junk, or 
a fleet of Moro prahus/or a ship from some 
other land, they lighted fires on the hill, to 
tell the people in Manila just what boats 
were coming. 

At the present time there is a strong fort 
on Corregidor. When a ship is coming, the 
news is carried to the city by a cable laid 
under the waters of the bay. 




An Igorrote man 
going home from 
market, carrying 
his purchases in 
a basket on his 
back ; and another 
man of the same 
race displaying his 
finery. 




CHAPTER XIX 

THE ISLANDS UNDER DIF- 
FERENT NATIONS 

A ROUT the first thing we saw yesterday 
when we stepped off the boat, and onto 
the long pier, piled high with boxes and 
bales that had come on ships from every part 
of the world, was a carabao (carabow) cart. 
And the carabao, pulling his clmnsy, two- 
wheeled cart, is one of the last things we shall 
see when we go away. He is guided by a 
single rope fastened to a ring in his nose, or 
around one horn. 

THE CARABAO, OR WATER BUFFALO 

In Siam we met the carabao under another 
name — the water buffalo. Rut he is the same 
heavy, slow-moving beast, with tough gray 
hide and wide-branching horns. Only here 

(245) 



246 STRANGE PEOPLES AND CUSTOMS 

we do not see the queer pinkish-colored beasts 
we saw in that land. , 

There have always been many carabaos in 
these islands. In their wild state, they are 
very fierce and dangerous. Long ago the 
people caught and tamed some of these ani- 
mals, and taught them to draw loads and to 
drag their clumsy wooden plows. They are 
gentle enough, with their native drivers, if 
they are kindly treated when they are young; 
but if they are misused, and learn to be afraid 
when they are calves, they are ugly and fierce, 
like the wild carabaos still found in some 
places. 

Wherever we go in the Philippine Islands 
to-day, we see these slow, patient animals, 
drawing heavy loads, or turning up the land 
for a new crop of rice, or jogging along in 
front of a mat-covered, two-wheeled cart in 
which some country family is moving from 
one barrio to another. It looks very strange 
to see these slow animals on the same street 
with swiftly running motor cars. I have 
known of an automobile running into a cara- 
bao without hurting him much — but the car 
had to be sent off for repairs! 

When the Philip for whom the Philippine 
Islands were named became king of Spain, 
he sent men to settle in these far-off islands. 
They were his islands, he said, because Magel- 
lan had found them. He wished, as a great 




A Street of Native Houses at Silay, Occidental Negros 

many other kings have wished before and 
since, to be the greatest king in the world. 
Abeady he claimed the right to nearly all of 
South America, to Florida, and to Mexico. 

THE COMING OF THE SPANIARDS 

From Mexico came the first fleet of King 
Philip's ships with colonists for the Philip- 
pine Islands. A man named Legazpi was in 
command of the fleet, and a sailor who had 
already visited the islands came with him to 
help him. In due time the fleet reached the 
island of Cebu, where Magellan had come 
more than forty years before. The old men 
of the place had been boys when Magellan 
was there. 

Legazpi was kind to these people, for he 
truly wished to be friends with them. At first 
they were afraid, for they feared he had come 

(247) 




An Old Spanish Church at VALLAnoun 



to punish them; hut when they saw that he 
did not intend to hurt them in any way, they 
said they wouki he friends. Tupas, the chief 
(latu of Cehu, said, "I promise for myself and 
for my chikiren to obey the king of Spain 
night and day, in peace and in war." 

There were five priests in the company that 
came to Cebu, and they began to teach the 
people the Roman Catholic faith. JNIany were 
baptized, Tupas among the number. 

In the next three hundred years Spain 
ruled indeed "night and day" in the Philip- 
pines. Legazpi died, and some of the men 
who came after him were neither so wise nor 
so kind. It is a long story, and some of it 
is very sad. 

The Spaniards brought many new^ and bet- 
ter ways to the islands. They made long 
roads and built bridges — or rather they forced 

(248) 



UNDER DIFFERENT NATIONS 249 

the people to do this work. Immense churches 
were built, too, in many places ; and cemeteries 
were inclosed with high, strong walls. Near 
the churches were convents for priests and 
nuns. Often there was a high tower where 
were hung the great bells that were rung 
many times a day, and sometimes in the night, 
to call the people to prayer. 

"Wasn't it good for them to have churches?" 
you ask. 

Of course it was; but you see these people 
were compelled to work on these buildings 
whether they wished to or not. All they re- 
ceived was a little food to eat and a nipa roof 
to cover them at night. If they did not work 
hard enough, they were punished. When 
people build a church because they love to 
build it, it is pleasing to God. But I think 
He must often have been grieved to see these 
great churches with their fine towers and 
wide gardens, when He knew the feeling in 
the hearts of the poor men who toiled at 
building them. 

Still, all in all, the Filipinos learned many 
things from Spain. They learned how to mix 
mortar and make brick and lay up a wall; 
they learned how to build better houses, and 
how to make bridges and good roads. They 
learned a little about the great world that 
lay far beyond their islands. Some of their 
yoimg men went to other lands to study, and 



250 STRANGE PEOPLES AND CUSTOMS 

came home again to tell the wonders they 
had seen. 

When the king of Spam ruled the Philip- 
pmes, every man had to pay a certain amount 
of tribute each year. He did not always pay 
this in money, but more often in rice or oil 
or some other product. If the man who col- 
lected the tribute was dishonest, he would not 
give the people a fair price, but would make 
them bring more. Then when it was sold, he 
would keep something for hunself. In this 
way the people were robbed. Often they had 
a sad time. 

Long ago, long even before Magellan found 
the way to these islands, the Chinese came to 
them in their big junks. They brought silk 
and carved ivory and lacquer and pearls and 
paper umbrellas, and many other things to 
exchange for the fine mats and coconuts and 
woven cloth and so on which the natives 
had to sell. 

After the Spaniards took the islands, the 
Chinese still came. The Spaniards traded 
what they had collected as tribute for the 
lovely silks and gold and pearls and porce- 
lains so much desired by the rich ladies of 
Spain and Mexico. 

Thousands of Chinese live in the Philippine 
Islands at the present time. Some of them 
are poor, but others are very rich. They are 
bankers, and money lenders, and merchants. 



UNDER DIFFERENT NATIONS 251 

They have all sorts of little shops ; they wash 
clothes; and they make suits and coats and 
shoes. They are keen bargainers, willing to 
work, and careful to save. So they get 'ahead 
of the natives, who are easy-going, and happy 
if they have enough for to-day. 

A BRAVE CAPTAIN 

You would enjoy seeing Manila, with its 
wide streets, and its quaint old walled city, 
and its wide green Luneta, or plaza, where 
the people stroll in the cool of the evening 
to hear the band play. 

From the first, Manila has been the chief 
city of the Philippine Islands. In the begin- 
ning, though, it was only a poor little town 
of bamboo houses standing up on high poles 
to keep out of the water in the rainy season. 
But after the Spaniards came, better houses 
began to be built, and some of the low land 
was filled. In the year 1590 the wall was 
begun; and when it was finished, it was a great 
protection to the city. 

This wall is still standing, though in these 
days it serves only to remind the people of 
other times. The city of Manila extends far 
around it. The part of the city inside the 
wall is called Intramuros. When we get on 
a street car marked Intramuros, we know it 
will go dashing in through a gate in the wall, 
and after running through a number of nar- 




(252) 



UNDER DIFFERENT NATIONS 253 

row old streets, will go out through another 
gate into the Manila of to-day. 

Not long after this wall was finished, a 
Dutch captain came with two ships to Manila 
Bay. He wished to trade with the natives. 
The Spaniards did not want him there, but 
he would not go away. So by and by there 
was a battle. One of the Dutch ships, the 
"Concordia," was taken, and its captain and 
crew were made prisoners. 

Six of these prisoners were only boys. They 
were put into convents to become priests. 
There were thirteen men, and the Spaniards 
said these men must die. But before they 
were killed, they must declare that they be- 
lieved in the Catholic religion. Twelve of the 
men finally said they did, so they were buried 
in a cemetery when they were put to death. 
But there was one man. Captain Biesman, 
who would not say it, and after he was killed, 
his body was thrown into the sea. 

All honor to brave Captain Biesman! He 
suffered and died for what he thought to be 
right; and we know that angels will guard 
the place where every faithful child of God 
is, no matter where. 

COMING OF THE PROTESTANTS 

For three hundred years and more, no Prot- 
estants were allowed to teach their faith in the 
Philippine Islands. The Filipinos were with- 



254 STRANGE PEOPLES AND CUSTOMS 

out Bibles, either in their own languages, or 
in the Spanish, which a few of them had 
learned to read. 

In 1889 the British and Foreign Bible So- 
ciety sent two men to Manila with Bibles to 
distribute to those who wished to have them. 
These men stayed at a hotel, and when it was 
found what they were doing, they were poi- 
soned. One of them died, and the other was 
put into prison. Afterward he was sent away, 
and told not to come back again. 

When the Bible societies heard this sad 
story, they at once sent more men to the is- 
lands to sell and give away Bibles. It was 
not long before portions of the Bible were 
printed in different tongues and dialects of the 
Filipino people. The priests were angry, and 
did all they could to hinder the work, but still 
it went on. 

And in just a few years a new order of 
things came about. It had to, because the 
good news that Jesus is soon coming must go 
to every nation. Spain, which had once been 
mistress of so much of the world, lost her 
colonies one after another, and by and by 
she lost the Philippines too. 

WHAT THE UNITED STATES IS DOING 

Now they are under the protection of the 
United States of America. Many reforms 
have been brought about. The people are 



UNDER DIFFERENT NATIONS 255 

taught to govern themselves. There are 
schools in every town; even in the country 
there are little schoolhouses where the children 
may come and learn the same things learned 
all over the world by boys and girls who 
go to good schools. Children have gone to 
Washington from Manila, and kept right on 
in the public schools from the grade they left 
at home. 

I could not begin to tell you all that 
America has done to help the Filipino people 
to better and happier lives. But the thing 
that will help them most is to have the Bible 
freely circulated. They are taught to read, 
they have the Bible in English and in several 
of their own languages, and every one who 
will read it may do so. All this is a great 
change from what used to be. Many Prot- 
estant missionaries have come to the islands, 
and are teaching the people, and helping them 
in every way they know. 

OUR OWN WORKERS 

In 1906 our first workers. Elder and Mrs. 
J, L. McElhany, came to Manila. In 1908 
Elder and Mrs. L. V. Finster came, and soon 
began to work. In 1911 the first church of 
Sabbath keepers was organized in this old city, 
with eighteen members. There are now three 
churches in Manila, with several hundred 
commandment keepers. In a suburb of the 
city is our mission compound, with a printing 




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S -^ 2 J3 s 60'^ 



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(256) 



UNDER DIFFERENT NATIONS 257 

office, and a school, and a number of homes 
for foreign workers. From all over the is- 
lands, boys and girls come to this school to be 
trained to be workers among their own people, 
and to teach them the good news for the 
last days. 

There are no sweeter children in the world 
than the dark-eyed, soft-voiced little folks of 
the Philippine Islands, and I know you would 
like to hear them sing their Sabbath songs and 
repeat their memory verses. 

THE HOLY CHILD OF CEBU 

A few days ago we came down to the Pasig 
River, which runs through the city of Manila, 
and went on board a small interisland boat 
named the "Cebu." The "Cebu" was sailing 
for Cebu, the chief city on the island of Cebu. 
I think we shall remember Cebu; don't you? 

All the interisland boats are small, and 
often they are very crowded. We had the best 
cabin on the boat — but oh, how little and 
dark and dirty it was! Just outside our door 
was the largest rooster I have ever seen, and 
he began to crow very early in the morning, 
and did not allow us to forget for long at a 
time that cockfighting is still the favorite 
sport in the Philippines. 

A CRUEL SPORT 

The cocks are trained to fight. When the 
time comes for a real contest, short, very 

17 




Two gentlemen of 
leisure, with their 
fighting cocks. The 
Filipinos are easy- 
going people, happy 
if they have enough 
for to-day ; and they 
are more disposed to 
play than to work. 



sharp knives are fastened to the legs of two 
cocks that are to fight each other. Crowds of 
people come to look on, and to bet money on 
which one will win. Usually the fight does 
not last long. The strongest or quickest bird 
kills the other with one of his knives, or 
frightens him so that he retreats, and the 
fight is over. 

It is said that the men who make the laws 
are planning to have this cruel sport done 
away with in time; but it seems to be every- 
where now. One sees men carrying these 
cocks on the country roads, on the trains, even 
on the street cars in Manila — in fact, where- 
ever one goes in these islands. Men who 
raise them, care for them very tenderly. The 
birds enjoy all this attention, and never flut- 
ter or fuss or try to get away. 

The other day as we were passing along a 
country road, we saw two men giving one of 
these fighting cocks a bath, in a large wash- 
dish; near by one woman was washing a little 
boy! But he was a lucky lad to have a bath 
at all. Many Filipino children look as if 

(258) 



UXDER DIFFERENT NATIONS 259 

they were not often on good terms with soa]> 
and water. 

On our way to Cebu, we were two nights 
and one day on the water, nearly all this time 
in sight of land. JNIindoro was the largest 
island we passed. Its high hills are covered 
with trees, and many tierce carabaos and other 
wild animals are said to roam over its valleys 
and through its dark forests. JNIuch of this 
great island has never been explored b}^ 
white men. 

If you will look at a map of the Philip- 
pines, you will see, south of Mindoro, a large 
island marked Panay. Next to this is Negros, 
which looks a little in shape like a baby's sock ; 
and to the east of this, lies the long, narrow 
island of Cebu. The city of Cebu is on the 
eastern side of the island. Just opposite is 
a small island named Mactan. It was on the 
shores of this island, near Opon, that Magel- 
lan was killed. 

As the "Cebu" comes nearer and nearer to 
the city of Cebu, we have JNIactan on our left, 
and the island of Cebu, with its low green 
hills, on our right. Mactan is very flat. Soon 
we pass the w^hite cross that marks the place 
where it is thought that jNIagellan fell. Back 
of it, on higher land, is the monument that has 
been set up to honor this brave man. 

On Mactan are the large works of the Yi- 
sayan Oil Refining Company. If you have 




The Busy Docks at Cebu 



been eating "butter substitute" of almost any 
kind, it is very likely that you have eaten 
some of the sweet white coconut oil that passes 
through these works. The dried white "meat" 
of the coconut, called copra, is brought here 
from all the islands near, and the oil is pressed 
out, cleansed, and then shipped to the United 
States and other places. 

The raising of coconuts is one of the great 
industries of the Philippine Islands. A man 
who has a thousand coconut trees is well-to-do, 
and will have enough money to supply all his 
real needs as long as he lives. 

The wharf of Cebu is a busy place. Almost 
every ship brings motor cars (there were three 
nice new shiny ones on the deck of the 
"Cebu") , and we meet them on the streets and 
on the country roads everywhere in this long, 
narrow island. 

(260) 



UNDER DIFFERENT NATIONS 



261 



It is not far to the mission home, so we 
walk, and a man brings om^ trunks on a cart. 
No house has yet been built in Cebu for our 
missionaries, but they are living just now in 
a very large and very dilapidated old Spanish 
house. In the basement is a chapel, a room 
where the sick can come for treatment, and an 
office, besides several other rooms. 

TW^O LARGE TRIBES 

The Visayans, who live on Cebu and other 
near-by islands, are one of the largest of the 
Christian tribes in the Philippine Islands. 
Next to them in numbers are the Tagalogs, 
who live in Luzon. There are seven so-called 
Christian tribes, and many non-Christian tribes, 
in these islands. 




House Used by Our Workers at Cebu 



262 STRANGE PEOPLES AND CUSTOMS 

It is Christmas week, and the bells of the 
great church near ring and ring and ring at 
night. There are processions of images, too, 
with men and boys carrying candles and sing- 
ing. Sometimes a band of musicians walks 
before the image, and plays in its honor. 

Last night when the bells began to ring at 
four o'clock, I arose and looked down from 
our wide window to the street below. Hun- 
dreds of men and women, yes, and children 
too, were going to the church to pray. My 
husband went over, and he said he was sure 
there were three thousand men and women 
and children kneeling on the bare floor of 
that old church. And at four o'clock in the 
morning, too! 

This morning I went to see an image that 
is kept in a large church, known as the Church 
of the Holy Child. The image is called the 
"Holy Child of Cebu," and is regarded as 
very sacred. It is thought to be an image of 
the child Jesus. Many stories are told about 
this image. Some say that it was given bj^ 
Magellan to the wife of that datu whom he 
made king. Others say that it was found on 
the seashore by a soldier in the year 1565. 
The very day of the month is given! 

The image is kept in a shrine, carefully 
locked, in a strong room. The priest who 
took us to see it opened the door, and moved 
it out. It is only a little wooden doll, about 



UNDER DIFFERENT NATIONS 



263 



fifteen inches high, with a black face. It was 
dressed in a gaudy silken robe, and loaded 
down with trinkets of silver and gold. It was 
not at all pretty to look at, and reminded me 
of idols that I have seen in heathen temples. 
When it is taken out in procession, the people 
pay it great honor. 

A man brought his two little boys to see 
the image this morning, — such dear little 
rosy-cheeked, black-eyed boys, who are very 
probably in the third grade in school. They 
folded their hands before this wooden doll, 
bowed their heads, and said a prayer. When 
they went away, they left an offering in the 
box by the door. 




A Sidewalk Bazaar 




The roofs of most of 
the native houses are 
thatched with the 
long, strong leaves of 
the nipa palm. For 
that reason they are 
called nipa houses. 



CHAPTER XX 



HOUSES AND PEOPLE 

I HAVE not told you very much about the 
houses in the Philippines. In Manila and 
other cities one sees many large houses, 
that look very much like houses at home, ex- 
cept that they are more summery. For, you 
see, any house in the Philippines does not have 
to keep out the cold. There is no cold to keep 
out. The great thing is to keep out the wet 
and the heat. 

Some large houses are built of stone, and a 
few are made of cement. A great many are 
of wood. Almost all the houses in the islands 
rest on piles, or pillars, to raise them above 
the ground, and make them cool. The roofs 
have wide eaves, to keep out the rain; and if 
there is money enough, there is a wide porch. 
Perhaps the first thing you would notice 
about these houses is the windows. They are 
not windows at all, if by a window you mean 

(264) 



HOUSES AND PEOPLE 265 

a frame holding panes of glass through which 
you can look out. The windows in these 
houses are made of thin shells, in hundreds 
of small panes. These frames are not made so 
they can be raised or lowered, but so they can 
slide one behind another, The opening for 
the window is very large, often nearly the 
whole side of a room. Sometimes these win- 
dows are closed during the day to keep out 
the heat and the bright light, but when the 
sun is down they are opened wide to let in the 
cool air. If the owners can afford it, there 
is an iron grill to protect from thieves. In a 
driving storm, the windows are closed. 

NIPA HOUSES 

But the great mass of the people live in 
what are called nipa houses. A light frame 
of wood is set up, and the walls are filled in 
with mats of bamboo, with a bamboo mat on 
a frame for the window. Or the walls may 
be of bamboo poles, laid one above another, 
or of nipa leaves, laid on in rows. Any mate- 
rial that is at hand and cheap, is used. 

The roofs of these little native houses are 
steep, and most of them are thatched with the 
long, strong leaves of the nipa palm. For 
that reason they are called nipa houses. 

There is a rainy season and a dry season 
in the Philippine Islands. Sometimes during 
the rainy season so much water falls that 




A Family of Believers at Bacolod 

all the lowlands are flooded. This is one 
reason for building the houses on piles above 
the ground. 

Under many of these houses, a man can 
walk easily. Pigs and chickens and dogs roam 
about under them, or stretch out to sleep when 
the sun is hot. Often rubbish of all sorts is 
stored or collects under the house. When we 
were in Manila last year, we saw a very large 
white pig under a house facing one of the 
city's finest avenues; but this year the pig is 
gone. In his place is a shiny new automobile ! 

Once in a while one sees a native house that 
is very neat and clean. There are flowers 
in the windows, and the ground beneath is 
smooth and neatly swept. 

The floor of a nipa house is often made of 
split bamboo. When this kind of floor is care- 
fully laid, of smooth bamboo, and becomes 

(266) 



HOUSES AND PEOPLE 267 

polished with use, it looks very nice indeed. 
And it is surely easy to sweep, for all the 
dirt falls right through the cracks! 

In some homes the people sleep on the floor, 
spreading a woven mat down to lie on. Many 
of them eat on the floor, too, all dipping into 
one dish. But as the people are taught, and 
as they have more opportunities to earn 
money, they are buying tables and other fur- 
niture. If they do not have a table, sometimes 
they fix up a box, and use that. 

CLOTHING OF THE PEOPLE 

In the old days the people of the Philippine 
Islands did not wear many clothes. The chil- 
dren wore none at all. Even now they do not 
wear many. Little boys are often met on the 
streets of the cities, and in the country, wear- 
ing only a short shirt that reaches just to the 
legs. Sometimes the little girls wear a thin 
dress, but nothing more. Of course there are 
many children who wear the same kind of 
clothes that any child living in a warm country 
would wear — socks and sandals, and rompers 
or little suits, and hats. These are the children 
whose parents are well-to-do, or who have 
been to school. 

Yesterday I looked out the window, and 
saw a little girl perhaps seven years old. She 
had been sent to the market to buy some oil, 
and it began to rain. So she slipped out of 



268 STRANGE PEOPLES AND CUSTOMS 

her new white dress, which was all she had on, 
and holding it high up in one hand, and the 
bottle of oil in the other, home she ran as fast 
as she could go. She did not intend to take 
any risk of spoiling her lovely new dress I 

WATER POLES 

The little girls do their share of w^ork in the 
Philippine Islands, as well as in other lands, 
though they do not have to work so hard as 
in Chosen. They carry water from the well, 
sometimes in an earthen jar on their heads, 
but more often in a big bamboo pole, hollowed 
out inside. Bamboo grows in joints, each one 
hollow; but where the joints meet, there is a 
firm, tough web. When all the joints but the 
one at one end of a large pole are broken out, 
the hollow pole holds a supply of water. The 
children take some of these poles to the well 
or the river, and filling them with water, 
balance them on their shoulders, and carry 
them to their homes. Of course the poles they 
carry are shorter than those which are carried 
by their elders, but they are heavy enough. 

Bamboo, you will see, is used in many ways 
— for the frames of houses, for house walls, 
for floors and fences, for mats and curtains, 
and even for carrying and storing water. 
When the people wish to make a loud noise, 
as we do on the Fourth of July, they heat 
lengths of green bamboo till they burst with a 
loud bang! At certain times of the year, too, 



HOUSES AND PEOPLE 269 

they cook rice and make a kind of candy in 
short lengths of hollow bamboo. These are 
much liked. Once a mother sent by us a big 
bundle of these queer "sticks of candy" to her 
son, who was working in the city some miles 
away. 

A BAD HABIT 

One very sad thing I see wherever I go in 
the islands. The children use tobacco — yes, 
even little girls! This evening as I sat for a 
moment in the tiny park by the mission house, 
a girl about eight years old passed by. Very 
gracefully she walked along, her shoulders up, 
and her head erect — so that the jar she was 
carrying might not take a tumble. 

It was a picture I should have liked to see 
— except that in her mouth was a long roll of 
black tobacco! Sometimes I see little girls 
taking turns smoking a long cigar, or it may 
be passed around among a group of women 
and little girls. The other day my husband 
was walking past a row of nipa houses, and 
an old woman who wished to be* friendly 
offered to let him take a whiff from her dirty 
black pipe! 

In the schools the children are taught how 
harmful tobacco is for them, so we hope that 
by and by they will leave off this bad habit. 

Pietro is a dear little Cebuan boy who 
comes to our Sabbath school. 




(270) 



HOUSES AND PEOPLE 271 

"What language will we speak in heaven?" 
he asked his teacher one day. 

"I do not know what language, Pietro," she 
said, "but there will be only one language. 
Every one will speak it and understand it." 

Pietro thought this over. By and by he 
said, "I know what language it will be — it 
will be English." 

"Why do 3^ou think so, Pietro?" asked his 
teacher. 

"Because the Visayans learn English," he 
replied, "but not many Americans learn Vi- 
sayan." 

His teacher speaks Visayan; but many 
Americans, even missionaries, do not take the 
trouble to learn to speak these island lan- 
guages well. Those who do learn them are 
able to help the people much more than those 
who do not. 

Surely it is worth while taking the trouble 
to learn these languages, so that some of the 
people who speak them may be among those 
who speak the language of heaven by and by. 

PANAY AND NEGEOS 

Iloilo is a busy place; it is the largest city 
on Panay, and here a great many boats come 
bringing their cargoes, and sail away again 
with the products of the island. 

Six or seven years ago many Seventh-day 
Adventist books in the Spanish language were 
sold on Panay. In 1914 a Seventh-day Ad- 



272 STRANGE PEOPLES AND CUSTOMS 

ventist mission station was opened in Iloilo. 
Now we have many Sabbath keepers scattered 
through the island. Near the home where the 
missionaries are living is a new nipa chapel, 
very neat and pretty. A few miles away 
there is another church building of the same 
kind. Here the children come on week days 
to the church school, where they are taught 
their regular lessons and learn Bible stories. 

A DIRTY SHIP 

The large and fertile island of Negros 
(which looks like a baby's sock, you remem- 
ber) lies between Panay and Cebu. We went 
over to visit some Sabbath keepers on Negros 
the other day. The boat we sailed on is named 
*'Hijos de Isadore de la Rama," but is called 
"H I R" (in gilt letters on the prow) for 
short. It was very dirty, and very noisy, and 
very full of all sorts of things, including 
people and carabaos. 

We landed at a place called Pulupandan — 
which seems to be only a long pier leading to 
a sandy shore, a grove of coconut trees, and 
dozens of automobiles of all sorts, which are 
ready to take passengers wherever they wish 
to go. 

We got into one of them, — old, and small, 
and rackety, — and away we went — through 
sand, at first, but we soon came to a wide, 
smooth, hard road. A meeting was to be held 




Pier at Palapondon 

in Valladolid, in a pleasant nipa house near a 
very large old church. When we reached the 
place, my husband went in, but I went on "out 
in the country" (though it all seemed like the 
country to me) to bring another family to 
the meeting. 

It should have taken but a little while to 
go the ten miles and back again; but when we 
reached the neat little nipa house, we had to 
wait some time for the folks to get ready. I 
wish you could have seen the dear little boy 
who lives in this house, and the fat brown 
baby, so clean and sweet, lying on a mat on 
the bamboo floor! 

When the boy was dressed, we started; but 
we had to stop by the side of the road when we 
had gone only a little way, and send back in 
a field for the father, who was harvesting his 
rice. That took more time; and when we got 

(273) 

18 




Loading a Raft to Cross the River at Vigan 



back to Valladolid, the meeting was over ! All 
we had time to do was to take a picture, and 
start for the next place. 

Bacolod was the next place. When we got 
there, it was dark; but the ride was a pleasant 
one all the way. Once we came to a river 
where there was no bridge, and we had to 
wait our turn to be poled across on a raft. 
Sometimes automobiles run into the river 
when going onto the raft or getting off. This 
happened to one of the cars that was ahead of 
us. A Filipino who saw it thought it very 
funny. He came up the steep hill holding his 
sides, and laughing with all his might. 

But it did not seem funny to us. 

A great deal of sugar cane is raised on 
Negros. There are fields of it everywhere, 
and big mills called "centrals," where the 
juice is crushed out of the long stalks, and 

(274) 



HOUSES AND PEOPLE 



275 



boiled down. The dry stalks are burned to 
make steam to run the crushers, so nothing 
is lost. 

While we waited for our turn, we bought 
some stalks of sugar cane and ate it. By and 
by we were safely over the river, and on the 
smooth road again. 

At Bacolod we stayed in a Sabbath-keeping 
home, and had a meeting with the believers in 
the pleasant wooden church close by. One of 
our native workers and his family live near. 
The sister in whose home we stayed has 
adopted five girls, and is giving them a good 
home and sending them to school. The young- 
est girl was about six years old. "She is the 
light of our home," her foster mother said. 

The next day we went to Silay, where the 
"H I R" comes every other day. There were 




Native CHURCii at Eacolod 



276 STRANGE 1»E0:PLES AND CUSTOMS 

more automobiles than ever at Silay, some of 
them very large and very new and very grand. 
And there were ever so many people getting 
on the little launch with all their boxes and 
bags and parcels. It looked as if a very little 
would tip the launch over, when everybody 
and everything was aboard. 

AN UNSUBMISSIVE BUFFALO 

When we reached the "H I R," there was 
a great scramble to get off the launch and 
onto the large boat. It seemed as if some one 
would be hurt, but the only accident happened 
to a big carabao that was being let down over 
the side of the ship. The carabao kicked so 
hard that the ropes slipped, and down it fell 
into the water, striking its side on the corner 
of a raft. But it seemed not much hurt, only 
frightened, and I did not blame it. By and 
by we were off, and after a few hours were 
back at the mission in Iloilo. The next day 
we took another boat for Manila, Christmas 
Day we spent on the boat, and remembered 
that last Christmas we were on the "Luchow" 
in the Gulf of Siam. The day after Christ- 
mas, early in the morning, we reached Manila 
again. 

There are many places in these islands that 
we should like to visit, and many tribes that 
we should like to see; but we can make only 
one more trip this time. This will be to the 
northern part of Luzon. 




Old Church at Vigan 



CHAPTER XXI 

ON THE ABRA RIVER 

I WONDER if you can tell me the names 
of two men of whom all good Americans 
are very proud. "Of course," you say, 
"George Washington and Abraham Lincoln." 
The Filipinos have a national hero, too. His 
name is Jose Rizal. December 30 is Rizal 
Day in the islands, and the Filipinos have 
processions and music and speeches in honor 
of this man whose life they admire, whose 
death they mourn, and whose memory they 



revere. 



NORTHERN LUZON 



The day after Rizal Day, we left Manila to 
come to Vigan, in Northern Luzon. If you 

(277) 



278 STRANGE PEOPLES AND CUSTOMS 

will look on the outline map, you will find the 
name of this towai, one of the oldest in all 
the islands. 

We started early in the morning, and rode 
on the train till about four o'clock, when we 
stopped, for a very good reason. We had 
come to the end of the track! Bauang-Sur is 
the name of the tow^n where the track ends, 
and every one who wishes to go farther north 
must ride in an automobile or in an oxcart, 
or else he must walk. 

Soon w^e found an old automobile, and 
climbed into the back seat. This was very 
humpy, but it was not uncomfortable till the 
driver put a narrow wooden seat in front of 
us. On this seat four men sat, and another 
sat in front with the driver. Every one had 
his baggage tied on outside, so the car was 
heavily loaded w^hen we started, and no one 
in it was very happy. 

It was late and very dark when we reached 
Candon. We got out by the side of the road, 
and counted our packages. But we had had 
one package for some one else. This we did 
not count, for it was not there. It had gone 
on in the automobile — and that was the last 
we saw^ of it. 

A SABBATH SCHOOL GIRL 

Some Filipino boys had been sent to meet 
us, and show^ us to the native house where 




One corner of our meeting hall at Candon, North Luzon. The two 

little girls at the ends of the picture learned the memory verses and 

references for a year. 

we were to stay for several days. We were 
here to attend a meeting of Sabbath keepers. 
On Sabbath a little girl with shining black 
eyes repeated all the memory verses for the 
whole year — every one — with all the Bible 
references. 

Eleven persons in this northern province 
had learned all these verses, we were told. 
And some of them had no Bibles, either! 
They had no money to buy Bibles. Still they 
learned the verses. One woman walked a long 
way every week to study her lesson and learn 
the verse in a friend's Bible. 

You will be glad to know that a good copy 
of the Holy Scriptures was given to each one 
of the eleven who learned all the verses. 

When the meeting was over, we left Can- 
don, and came to Vigan, where our mission 

(279) 



280 STRANGE PEOPLES AND CUSTOMS 

station is. Only a few years ago, in 1914, 
more than two thousand copies of the Bible 
were burned as a big bonfire in the public 
square of this pleasant little town. This was 
done by the priests, who did not wish the 
people to have the Bible to read. But the 
very next day three thousand more copies 
were sold to the people by the agents of the 
Bible Society. 

There are many places of interest in North- 
ern Luzon. One day we visited a number of 
towns to the north of Vigan, and called at the 
homes of Sabbath keepers in several places. 
A smooth, well kept road, with good bridges 
over the streams, runs from Vigan northward 
for a number of miles. We were glad for 
this brief glimpse of these old towns, with 
their ruined churches, their walled cemeteries, 
and their tall towers. But we were much 
more pleased to see the new schoolhouses 
where so many children are learning to read 
and write. 

There are not many good roads. Some of 
the places we wished to see could be reached 
only by days and days of walking over wild 
mountain trails. Finally we made up our 
minds to spend a few days in Abra. The 
people who live in Abra believe it to be the 
nicest place in the world. To reach Bangued, 
the chief town in Abra, we spent one day on 
a raft on the Abra River. This was great 




Our raft starts up 
the Abra River. The 
men who were push- 
ing and pulling the 
raft waded much of 
the way. 



fun even for older folks. You would have 
liked it very much. 

It was very early in the morning when we 
left the mission home in Vigan. The motor- 
cycle was going too, and it was loaded with 
boxes and bundles. We took only the fewest 
things we could possibly get along with; but 
as there were five of us, and every one had 
one or two bundles, you see there were a 
number of them. 

The swift spin *along the smooth road in 
the early morning air was very pleasant. As 
we went, we passed many men and women, 
who had been working in their fields, and were 
now going home to eat breakfast and to rest. 

By and by we came to a hilltop, from 
which we looked down on the river, cool and 
lovely, below. The water was a dark, clear 
green. Quickly we coasted down the hill, and 
soon we were on the shore, waiting to go 
aboard our raft for the day's journey up the 
river. The sun was just peeping over the 
mountain. 

(281) 



282 STRANGE PEOPLES AND CUSTOMS 

The raft that we hh'ed for the trip was 
about thirty feet long, and twenty-one bam- 
boo poles wide. In the middle was a little 
platform raised a few inches above the body 
of the raft, where we could sit, and keep dry. 
Woven mats were stretched over a low frame 
above this platform to protect us from the sun. 
Or we could sit on our boxes outside, with our 
umbrellas raised. 

Going up the river, the men who were push- 
ing and pulling the raft waded much of the 
way. Often the water came up to their 
waists. In some places the current is swift, 
and there are rapids. We seemed to be going 
uphill in the water. 

A PAGAN TRIBE 

I have told you that there are many non- 
Christian tribes in the Philippine Islands. 
The Tingans are one of these tribes. We had 
not gone far up the Abra River before we 
passed a small Tingan village, and in the 
afternoon we stopped for a little while at 
another. The village we visited is on top of 
a steep, dusty hill, and we were hot and tired 
when we reached it. The people hid inside 
their houses when they saw us coming. I dare 
say they had a good look at us, but we did not 
see many of them! 

The Tingans are pagans. They believe that 
evil spirits are always watching to do them 
harm. Sometimes they build little "houses" 




Children on the bank 
of the Abra. I gave 
a handful of raisins 
to one little girl, and 
she unselfishly shared 
them with the other 
children present. 



outside their villages, hoping that the evil 
spirits will stay in them. Sometimes they 
make a little bamboo "ark," and put in it an 
offering of food, then set it afloat on the river, 
to please the spirits. While we were on the 
Abra, we saw two of these little arks. 

It was toward evening when we reached 
Bangued, and quite dusk when we reached 
the native house where we were to stay. But 
though it was late, many people came to see 
Pastor Hay. 

One mother brought her baby, who was 
covered with sores. Pastor Hay washed it 
with medicated soap, and rubbed it all over 
with healing ointment. Often when traveling 
on the country roads in JSTorthern Luzon, he 
stops to help people in these ways. Many 
men of the mountain tribes have met him, or 
heard of him, and they are his friends. They 
ask him to send men to teach them the gospel. 

I must tell you a little about the house in 
which we stayed in Bangued. It was built in 
two parts, with a little covered platform be- 
tween, and steep, ladder-like steps. All the 

(283) 



284 STRANGE PEOPLES AND CUSTOMS 

native houses have these steep steps, often 
only two bamboo poles, with rungs of bamboo 
tied to them, very far apart. The children go 
up and down these ladders like monkeys, even 
when they are tiny, but I could not get used 
to them. 

The folks had moved out of one side of the 
house, and fixed it up for us. The bamboo 
floor was repaired, and a box had been made 
into a table where we could eat. They had 
done all they could to make us comfortable. 
And no one can do any more than that. 

I think you would have liked to see the chil- 
dren who came to the shaky little house to 
"welcome" us. There were as many as fifty 
of them, I am sure; and they stayed and 
stayed, till we put out the lights and lay 
down to sleep. In the morning bright and 
early they were back. To one dear little girl 
I gave a handful of raisins, and she shared 
them with the other children in the most un- 
selfish way. 

In Bangued there is a good school, and even 
far back in the country there are small schools, 
which are visited every little while by the 
American superintendent. Not all the chil- 
dren attend; but many go every day, and 
enjoy it. 

IDOL W^ORSHIP 

We stayed only one night in Bangued, and 
the next day started out for Bucay, a tiny 



ON THE ABBA RIYER 285 

town in Abra. On the way we passed through 
a little village with a long name, — Pinaro- 
bia, — and Mr. Hay talked with the presi- 
dente, who is the chief man of the barrio, and 
asked him to show us one of the places where 
the people worship. At first he was timid, 
and said there was no such place. But by and * 
by, when he saw we were friendly, he agreed. 

So he opened a little gate in a fence on the 
main road, some distance from his house, and 
led us down a narrow path to a large tree. 
The great roots of this tree were partly above- 
ground, forming little sheltered niches. In 
one of these were four small stones — not 
carved images, but just crude stones of queer 
shape. The tallest was not more than ten or 
twelve inches high. The presidente said these 
"gods" were very old. No one knew where 
they had come from. 

Close at hand were a number of strips of 
bamboo, pointed at one end, and sharp as 
knives. These are used to kill the pigs offered 
as sacrifices at the time of the feasts, which 
are held at certain times every year. Small 
saucers and broken coconut shells were near 
by to hold the blood. There were also tiny 
spears and shields, made of bamboo, for the 
use of the "gods." 

A young man who could speak English 
came with the presidente and talked to us. 
He said that at one time a "Spanish man" had 




In the center of this picture is seen one of the stones worshiped by 
the people living near. To the left are its shield and spear. 

kicked one of these stone idols with his foot. 
And always after that he had a frightened 
look, and his eyes rolled upward. His neck 
was twisted, too, and he was lame. Of course 
none of this was true, but it shows what these 
poor people believe. 

Not far away there were three little 
"houses" made of poles and nipa thatch. In- 
side each one was a, floor on which were set 
coconut shells or broken dishes. In these, two 
or three times a year, offerings of food and 
pigs' blood are placed. The presidente told 
us about these little houses. 



HOUSES FOR SPIRITS 



They are for the spirits to live in, he said, — 
bad spirits that the people wish to keep out of 
their village. The low house, in the middle, is 

(286) 



ON THE ABRA RIVER 



287 



for the "crippled spirit," who causes children 
to become cripples. The house is low, because, 
being a cripple himself, he cannot climb, and 
it is hoped that he will be pleased to find this 
shelter, and will stay in it. 

The little house with the very pointed roof, 
and with thatch all around, is for the spirit 
that causes fear. This is a timid spirit, so 
there is no open door to his house; he goes in 
quickly, and the thatch hangs down like a 
curtain all around, and hides him from sight. 

The third house is for the evil spirit that 
causes headaches, and fevers, and other kinds 
of sickness. 

The people believe that if they have these 
shelters for the spirits to rest in, they will not 




Spirit Houses 



288 STRANGE PEOPLES AND CUSTOMS 

come to the village, and so the men and the 
women and the children will be safe. 

Surely these poor people, who are so 
friendly and so kind-hearted, need the gospel 
very much! You remember that little Iwao 
said he wished to buy a Bible for his proud, 
rich grandfather, so he could learn the gospel. 
"That is the thing he ought to have," he said; 
and the gospel is what all these people, rich 
and poor, old and young, wise and foolish, 
need and ought to have. 

One night we stayed in Bucay, in a pleas- 
ant house; and the next night in a real Tin- 
gan barrio J in the house of the chief man of 
the place. 

Then we came back to Bangued, said 
good-by to our friends, and long after dark 
went aboard two bamboo rafts, like the one 
on which we came up the river. By taking 
two rafts, we could spread out our blankets 
under the little rounded mat roofs, and have 
a good night's rest. 

Soon we start, and begin to float down- 
stream. It is very still. On the shore we see 
lights, once in a while, where people are camp- 
ing. After a while we stop by the bank, to 
wait for the moon to lighten our way. 

How bright the stars shine above us, as we 
look up into the sky! It is very quiet on the 
river, and very peaceful, with the little ripples 
lap-lap-lapping at the side of the rafts. By 



ON THE ABRA RIVER 



289 



and by we fall asleep, but are wakened when 
it is time to go on again. 

Very early in the morning, before the sun 
has come up behind the mountain, we are back 
in Vigan. If all our journeys could be as 
pleasant as that lovely night on a raft on 
the Abra River, we should wish to travel all 
the time. 

To-morrow we are going back to Manila, 
and in a few days we shall set out to see an- 
other wonderful island. 




Ironing Clothes in the Philippines 



19 




The "Sabah" tied 
up at the pier in 
Jesselton, B. N. 
Borneo, and a sail- 
ing boat at Sanda- 
kan such as the 
natives use. 




CHAPTER XXII 



BEAUTIFUL BORNEO 

ON a Sunday evening, at sunset, we went 
aboard a little, puffing launch, which 
carried us very quickly to a boat sail- 
ing that night for Borneo. It was about 
midnight when we started. From the ship 
we took a "last look," as the children say, at 
Manila, which was ablaze with electric lights. 
It was **carnival week," and though most of 
the flimsy buildings of the great fair had 
burned only three nights before, repairs had 
been made, and many colored lights outlined 
the dream-like walls and towers that were 
left. Soon our ship turned away to the dark 
sea, and we lay down to quiet sleep. 

For two days we sailed along, over a calm 
sea, the first day passing again the great is- 

(290) 



BEAUTIFUL BORNEO 291 

land of Mindoro, and Tuesday sailing down 
through the Sulu Sea, till we reached Sanda- 
kan, the northern harbor of the great island 
of Borneo. 

Dust was everywhere when we left Manila, 
for it was the dry season; but this morning we 
looked out at Sandakan through a gray veil 
of rain. Sandakan is built largely on a hill, 
and our own pleasant mission house may be 
seen quite plainly from the harbor. 

A VERY LARGE ISLAND 

Borneo is a very large island indeed. Ex- 
cept Australia, which is a continent in itself, 
there is only one island, New Guinea, that is 
larger. On the map. New Guinea does not 
look far from Borneo. In fact, this whole 
region is, as one might say, an island neigh- 
borhood. 

It is hard to realize the size of Borneo, 
simply by looking at a map. It is four times 
as large as England, we are told. If we were 
to divide the whole country into ten parts, 
Holland would say. Seven of these parts are 
mine. The other three parts have three gov- 
ernments. They are, British North Borneo, 
Sarawak, and Brunei. All three of these are 
really under the care of Great Britain. 

No one knows how many people live in 
Borneo, for no one has yet gone all through 
the island , to say nothing of counting the 

See map of Borneo on page 130. 



292 STRANGE PEOPLES AND CUSTOMS 

people who live on it. But some guesses have 
been made. It is thought that there are not 
more than two million in all the island, and 
perhaps not that many. 

Like other of these South Sea Island peo- 
ples, the natives of Borneo are Malays. There 
are a number of tribes on the island. One of 
the best known is the Dyaks, of which there 
are two branches, the Land Dyaks and the 
Sea Dyaks. 

EATING birds' NESTS 

Long, long ago the Chinese came to Borneo 
in their big sailing junks. Often I have seen 
these clumsy-looking boats out on the gray 
waters off the China coast on a stormy day, 
when it seemed as if every high wave would 
surely fill them, and make them sink, but they 
seem to have the secret of staying on top! 
So when the wind was right, their captains 
would set out, and if all went well, would by 
and by land at some trading point on Borneo. 

Here the natives would come from the 
jungle, bringing the things that the Chinese 
wished to buy, and trading them for things 
that the Chinese had to give in exchange. 

One thing which the Chinese like very much 
is birds' nests — a gelatine-like nest made by 
the swift, a bird found in great numbers in 
Borneo. These birds build their nests on the 
roofs of the great limestone caves found in 
many places in Sarawak and British North 



BEAUTIFUL BORNEO 293 

Borneo. When they are clean, these nests are 
white, or light colored, and bring a very high 
price. The darker ones are also in demand. 

The sale of these nests to the Chinese, who 
use them for a certain kind of soup that only 
the rich can afford to eat, brings a great deal 
of money to Borneo. 

Many of the Chinese who came to Borneo 
in the early days decided to stay on in this 
beautiful, warm, quiet island. They married 
native women, and their children knew no 
other home. In later years great numbers of 
Chinese have come to work on the rubber and 
coconut and tobacco plantations that English- 
men are planting. For the Chinese are great 
workers, and work is one thing that the na- 
tives of Borneo, as well as other Malays, do 
not like a bit. So we find in Borneo maiiy 
Chinese who are well-to-do. 

Away from the coast, and in very many 
places along the coast, Borneo is a great 
jungle. In its deep valleys and on the sides 
of its high mountains are wonderful forests 
of hard and soft woods. But it is not easy to 
bring this timber, which is so valuable and so 
much needed, to the coast; for there are no 
roads, and no railways to speak of. 

A GREAT MOUNTAIN 

Kinabalu is the name of a high mountain in 
British North Borneo. It is said that part 
of this name comes from a Chinese word and 




(294) 



BEAUTIFUL BORNEO 295 

part from a Malay word, and that this shows 
how long the Chinese have been in Borneo. 
Kinabalu is nearly fourteen thousand feet 
high, or more than a thousand feet higher than 
Fujisan, the famous mountain of Japan. 

But while the top of Fujisan is covered 
with snow, the top of Kinabalu, though so 
much higher, rarely has a sprinkle on it. 
From the sea the sides of this mountain look 
green and beautiful; its top is often hidden 
in clouds. Sometimes it peeps out far above 
them. 

Many valuable things are found in Borneo ; 
and many more will be found, if men come 
and look for them, and work for them. Thou- 
sands of rubber trees and thousands of coco- 
nut trees have been planted, so that there may 
be rubber tires for the world's automobiles, 
and cooking oil in the world's kitchens. A 
good grade of petroleum has been found, too, 
and some coal. Then there is cutch, which is 
a sort of dye used for khaki, and pepper, and 
tobacco, and camphor. A great deal of sago 
comes from Borneo, too. 

In the forests and jungles are a few wild 
elephants, tigers, and rhinoceroses. There are 
several kinds of deer, among them the mouse 
deer, about which the Dyaks have a number 
of fables. Borneo is a great place for birds 
of bright plumage. There are many monkeys, 
too, and alligators, and snakes. Pythons 



296 STRANGE PEOPLES AND CUSTOMS 

thirty feet long, which can swallow a deer, 
have been seen often. I should much rather 
meet a python in the zoo than face to face in 
a jungle in Borneo; wouldn't you? 

"wild men of Borneo" 

How I wish you could be with us on this 
tiny boat "Sabah" as we sail along the shores 
of this large island! "Beautiful Borneo" is 
a lovely spot in these southern seas. I am 
sure that if its charms were only known, and 
its wild men and wild jungles were tamed, 
thousands of people would come to see it 
every year. 

But you see the "wild men of Borneo" are 
not just something to laugh about. They are 
quite real, and their savage customs and fierce 
ways do not endear them to travelers. 

The Dyaks are head-hunters. They think 
it is a sign of bravery and strength to take 
the heads of their enemies, though they do not 
seem to care always to take the heads of 
men. Sometimes they take those of women 
or even children. 

Near the coast towns, of course, this dread- 
ful custom is not allowed; and in some places 
where the missionaries have worked for a 
number of years it is said to be dying out. 
But there are no roads through the island, and 
no railways to speak of — just paths winding 
off into the jungle. And back in the interior 
the Dyaks follow their old ways. 



BEAUTIFUL BORNEO 297 

We are told that no farther than twenty 
miles from the pleasant little town of Sanda- 
kan, with its electric lights and paved streets 
and ice plant, there are natives who have never 
seen a white man, and who live very much as 
their fathers did hundreds of years ago. They 
never leave their villages except to go on a 
head-hunting trip. 

The Dyaks have a strange religion — a re- 
ligion of fear. From their babyhood, the 
children are taught that the earth and the 
air and the sky are full of evil spirits that are 
waiting for a chance to hurt them. Singalong 
Burong is the ruler of this spirit world, they 
say, and certain feasts are held in his honor 
each year. At this time offerings of food and 
drink are set before the heads that have been 
taken in battle or in other ways. 

The Dyaks believe that any one who suc- 
ceeds in taking the head of his enemy is 
doubly strong, because he has added the soul 
of the dead man to his own. The more heads 
he takes, the more strength he has. So the 
Dyaks prize these dreadful trophies very 
much, and keep them in baskets hanging in 
bundles in their houses, or in rows outside. 

CHILDREN OF BORNEO 

The babies of Borneo are brown, some very 
light in color, and some as dark as a bar of 
chocolate candy. They have black eyes, and 



298 STRANGE PEOPLES AND CUSTOMS 

very dark brown or black hair, sometimes 
straight and sometimes curly. They do not 
wear any clothes at all until they are five or 
six years old, and then not many. 

But they do have baths. Even a little baby 
is bathed. For two or three days it is bathed 
at home, and then it is taken down to the river 
for a ceremonial bath. An old man whom the 
people honor is chosen to take the child out 
in the river, and dip it up and down in 
the water. 

At the same time a fowl is killed, and one 
of its wings taken off. If the baby is a boy, 
this wing is fastened to a spear; if it is a girl, 
it is fastened to a piece of wood that is used 
in weaving cloth. Then the spear or the stick 
is stuck in the mud at the edge of the stream 
in such a way that some of the blood will drip 
into the water. This is supposed to please the 
water spirit. 

Some of the children have names, but more 
are called only Little Girl or Little Boy. A 
child's name may be changed at any time, if 
he becomes ill. Like other people of these 
southern lands, the parents think that some 
evil spirit makes the child ill, and that if they 
change his name, the spirit cannot find him, 
and the child will get well. 

As soon as the little girls are old enough, 
they learn to weave mats and baskets and 
cloth, and to cook rice, and dp other kinds of 



BEAUTIFUL BORNEO 299 

work that they see then- mothers do. A Dyak 
boy is very proud when he makes his first 
canoe, as any boy would be, no matter where 
he lived. 

CANOES OF BORNEO 

The Indians of North America sometimes 
made canoes of bark, but the men of Borneo 
use the whole log. A man who lived many 
years in Borneo once saw one of these canoes 
made, and he tells us just how it was done. 
Here is his story: 

"A tree having a long, straight stem was 
felled, and the desired length of trunk cut off. 
The outside was then shaped to take the de- 
sired form of the canoe. Then the inside was 
hollowed out. The next thing to do was to 
widen the inside of this canoe. This was done 
by filling the boat with water and making a 
fire under it, and by fastening large stone 
weights on each side. When the shell had 
been sufiiciently opened out, thwarts were 
placed inside, about two feet from each other, 
to prevent the boat getting out of shape when 
the wood dried. The stem and stern of the 
canoe are alike, both being curved and pointed, 
and rising out of the water." 

Canoes ninety feet long are made in the 
same way. A number of men sit in such a 
canoe, and when they wish to do so, they can 
send it through the water at a great speed. 



300 



STRANGE PEOPLES AND CUSTOMS 



"The only tool used for making a Dyak 
boat of this kind is the Dyak ax or adz 
(bliong). This is a most excellent tool, and 
is forged of European steel, which they pro- 
cure in bars. In shape it is like a small spade, 
about two and a half inches wide, with a 
square shank. This is set in a thin handle of 
hard wood, at the end of which there is a 
woven pocket of cane to receive it. The 
lower end of this handle has a piece of light 
wood fixed to it to form a firm grip for the 
hand. The bliong can be fixed in the handle 
at any angle, and is therefore used as an ax 
or an adz. With it the Dyaks can cut down 
a great forest tree in a very short time, and 
it is used for cutting planks and doing their 
carpentering work." 





CHAPTER XXIII 

"WE HAVE WATCHED YOUR 
LIVING" 

THE Dyaks, with many other heathen 
people, believe that there is a good and 
powerful God, who made the earth and 
the sea and the sky. They call him Kinarin- 
gan. He lives, they think, on the top of that 
high mountain, Kinabalu, which I told you 
about, and which we can see very plainly from 
the deck of the "Sabah." Sometimes its lofty 
head is hidden in clouds; again, it looks down 
on us from far above them. 

(301) 



302 STRANGE PEOPLES AND CUSTOIVfS 

A man who has worked for the Dyaks a 
long time, and has sat in the seat of honor, 
under a cluster of human skulls, in their long 
houses, has told us some of the things that 
these people believe. They think that in the 
beginning there were four kinds of men — 
yellow men, brown men, white men, and them- 
selves, who were just men, and of course the 
best kind. 

The yellow men were the Chinese, and the 
brown were Malays, and the white were Eu- 
ropeans. 

"The yellow men were clever with their 
hands, able to do anything that required 
skill." And that is a very good way of de- 
scribing the Chinese. 

The brown men "excelled in the worship 
of God." The Malays are largely Moham- 
medans, and they do a great deal of bowing 
and praying every day. 

The white men were "magicians." They 
could make iron ships that would float on the 
water, and do many other wonderful things. 

But none of these men could remember 
things that happened, the Dyaks said. To 
help them, Kinaringan made letters, and pic- 
ture writing, which he gave to them, so they 
could keep a record of things in books. The 
Dyaks did not need to know how to write. 
"For," they said, "we never forget anything, 
and therefore have no need of writing." 



"we have watched your living" 308 

We are sorry for these poor people, who 
feel that they have need of nothing, and 
yet who need everything that the gospel has 
to give. 

By and by this man had to go away, and 
a Dyak chief called him to his home, and said, 
"Why do you leave us?" 

The missionary told the chieftain, sadly, 
that he was called home, and would have to 
go. "But," he said, "why do you care? You 
have not become a Christian. Your people 
are not Christians." 

Now I want you to notice what this wild 
Dyak man said: "Sir, we have heard your 
preaching, and as wise men we have watched 
your living, and now we see that both agree, 
your preaching and your living, so we are 
willing to become Christians." 

It does not make any difference whether 
one is a wild man of Borneo, or a boy liv- 
ing in Christian America who has not given 
his heart to Jesus — he is watching those who 
say that they love Him, to see how they act. 
If they are peaceable, gentle, honest, and 
truthful, if they are unselfish and kind, they 
are winning others to love Him too. 

As we sail along the coast of Borneo, we 
see many lovely bays, where the yellow sands 
run down to the clear, green water. Coconut 
trees wave their graceful leaves on the banks, 
and here and there we catch a glimpse of the 



304 STRANGE PEOPLES AND CUSTOMS 

fire-colored flowers that crown the tops of the 
trees which are named "forest-flame." We 
are near enough to see the long, slim, black 
canoes gracefully tipped up and back at each 
end, on the shore. And we wonder how these 
people, so widely scattered, over such a large 
country, so hard to travel through, will hear 
the Good News. 

For many years, now, missionaries have 
been working here and there in Borneo. They 
have lived in Dyak villages, they have taught 
some of the children, they have cared for those 
who were sick. And some of these people 
have given their hearts to Jesus, and are try- 
ing to live Christian lives away in the jungles 
of Borneo. 

In 1909 a Chinese visited northern Borneo, 
and sold some Seventh-day Adventist books 
to the Chinese, and held Bible readings with 
them. Then there was a call for a worker, 
and from that time till now we have had mis- 
sionaries in this part of Borneo. Now there 
are more than one hundred men and women 
in British North Borneo who are looking 
for Jesus. 

Most of these believers are Chinese. The 
Good News must go to the native peoples too. 
Who will carry it? Who will tell them that 
the true God, who created the heavens and the 
earth, does not dwell on the top of a mountain 
in their land, but in the heavens, and that He 




Home of Believers in Borneo 

wishes to set up His kingdom of peace in 
every heart that will allow His Spirit to entp? 
These are some of the things I am thinking 
about as we sail along this beautiful coast. 

In some ways the houses of the people who 
live in all these islands of the South Seas are 
alike. Many of them are thatched with the 
long, tough leaves of the nipa palm, for one 
thing; and they are built on piles above the 



(305) 



20 



306 STRANGE PEOPLES AND CUSTOMS 

ground for another, to protect those who live 
in them from the damp ground in the rainy 
season, and from the many biting, crawling 
things that are always found in the jungle. 

In the Philippine Islands two families may 
live in one tiny house; and a number of these 
houses may be built quite close together to 
make a village. But in Borneo a whole vil- 
lage often lives in one very long house, with 
a room for every family! If there are too 
many families for one of these long houses, 
there may be another long house or a number 
of them. 

The Dyaks like to build their houses near 
a river; for the rivers are the only highways 
in the larger part of the island. It is easy to 
go from one place to another in their canoes. 

Sometimes these long houses are built from 
six to twelve feet above the ground. To get 
into them one must climb a ladder. Often the 
trunk of a tree is notched with an ax in such 
a way as to afford a foothold, and this is used 
for steps. 

From one end to the other of the long Dyak 
house there is a wide, uncovered platform, 
with a floor of hard wood that the rain will 
not spoil. Here the rice is spread to dry when 
it is brought home from the field, and here it 
may be threshed. Here, too, it is pounded 
out of its husk. 

This is done by putting two or three quarts 
of the rice in a deep hollow that has been made 




Dusun women pounding rice. The name Dusun means "garden," 

and these people are literally a garden people. The women have a 

fondness for girdles. 



in one end of a short log. Two women or 
girls, or more than two, stand near this log, 
each with a long, round pole, smaller in the 
middle than at the ends. Each lets her stick 
fall into the hollow, and deftly lifts it again, 
turn and turn about. It is a pretty sight, so 
sure and quick are their motions, so graceful 
and light; but it is hard work when kept up 
for a long time. 

(307) 



308 STRANGE PEOPLES AND CUSTOMS 

Back of this open platform is a covered hall 
or veranda. This is a cool, pleasant place, 
and here the families that live in the house 
spend a good deal of time. The women weave 
mats, and do other work here. The floor of 
the hall is made of split bamboo, tied down 
with rattan, and sometimes covered with 
woven mats. 

Back of this long hall is a series of rooms, 
all opening onto the hall. Each family may- 
have one room, which is used for kitchen and 
dining room, and for a place to sleep. On 
one side is the fireplace, where the food is 
cooked; and on the walls are their dishes and 
guns, and their brass gongs, which make a 
frightful noise when pounded. Here, too, are 
their old jugs, some of which they prize very 
highly. Over the fireplace hang the human 
skulls, which they prize most of all. Some 
of these skulls are very old. 

The family eat on the floor of this room, 
and when the meal is over, it is a simple mat- 
ter to clear away the refuse, which falls down 
through the floor of split bamboo. There it 
is eaten by dogs, chickens, and pigs. As you 
can imagine, this small, dark room is not a 
sweet-smelling place. 

In Borneo, as in Siam and other southern 
countries, there are many little lizards that 
come out in the early evening, and crawl about 
the ceilings and walls of the houses. They 



"we have watched your living" 309 

serve a useful purpose in catching insects, of 
which there are so many. There is a large 
lizard, too, which lives in the Dyak houses. 
It has a very loud, harsh cry, and when one 
who is new to the country hears it for the 
first time, he wonders what is going to hap- 
pen. The natives of Borneo call this lizard 
"'Gokko/' which they think sounds like its call. 
The people of Siam call it ''Tokay'' for the 
same reason. 

The Dyaks do not wear many clothes, es- 
pecially those who live back from the coast. 
A man may wear a cloth about the loins, and 
some kind of headdress, perhaps with feathers 
in it. His hunting knife, in its sheath, is 
fastened to a belt that is worn round his waist, 
or it may be tucked into the folds of his loin 
cloth. Sometimes he carries a quiver filled 
with poisoned arrows. 

The women wear a straight piece of cloth 
around the lower part of the body, and so 
tucked in as to look like a short, straight 
skirt. Sometimes they wear a scarf about the 
upper part of the body. On great occasions, 
they may wear a sort of waist made of rattan, 
fitting closely to the body. Each strip of 
rattan is covered with brass rings. Sometimes 
they wear a great number of these brass-cov- 
ered rattans on their arms. They think they 
are pretty. It is very queer, isn't it, what 
people will wear because they think it makes 
them look nice? 




Sago Palm 



To these little Du- 
sun girls of Bor- 
neo, the sago palm 
is as common as 
is the maple or 
the elm to you. 




CHAPTER XXIV 



A SAGO FACTORY AND 
FAREWELL 

ALL one day and part of another we 
sailed along the coast of Borneo; then 
we anchored at Jesselton, a very clean 
little town, with a large hotel, and a real rail- 
road track and a train! The track is narrow, 
and goes only a hundred miles or so along the 
coast, but it is much better than none at all, 
and perhaps is the beginning of better days 
by and by. 

We stayed one night in the pleasant hotel, 
and then took the train for Papar, about 
thirty miles from Jesselton. On the way we 
saw large groves of coconuts and a number 
of rubber estates. 

(310) 



A SAGO FACTORY AND FAREWELL 311 

One of the prettiest trees of the tropics 
grows in Borneo. This is the traveler's-tree, 
sometimes called the "traveler's-palm." It 
belongs to the banana family, but grows some- 
times to be thirty feet high. Its long, large 
leaves spread out like a great fan. By cutting 
off one of these stalks near the trunk of the 
tree, the thirsty traveler can obtain a refresh- 
ing drink of clear, cool sap. From our mis- 
sion home in Sandakan we could look across 
the bay to the mainland of Borneo, and see 
a number of these huge fans outlined against 
the sky. 

In Papar we visited a "sago factory." The 
sago palm grows wild in the jungle, but along 
the coast it is planted in many places. A 
great deal of sago is exported from Jesselton. 

This factory is a low building, with a num- 
ber of large, dark rooms. In one of them 
were ever so many of the biggest wooden tubs 
I had ever seen. These tubs were raised up 
from the floor, and filled with dirty water, 
in which the sago, which comes done up in 
sour-smelling rolls, is washed. 

You would not think the sago would be 
helped much by this washing; but after many 
washings it gets lighter colored anyway, 
whether it is cleaner or not. A man stands 
before one of these tubs, or vats, with a gray 
cloth in his hand, in which is a lump of the 
raw sago, like a lump of dough. He dips it 



312 STRANGE PEOPLES AND CUSTOMS 

up and down, and kneads and pounds it, and 
soaks it in the water. When he thinks it is 
clean enough, he passes on to another tub, 
where it goes through the same process again. 

By and by, when quite light-colored, and as 
fine as flour, it is spread out in a long, shallow 
trough, which is tipped up ever so little at one 
end, so the water can all run off. Afterward 
it is spread out on mats on the ground to dry. 
All the paths between these washing tubs are 
filled with gray-colored mud, where the sago 
has been ground into the earth. Sometimes 
the mud was so deep, and the stepping stones 
were so slippery, that we wondered why we 
had ever come in, and how we were ever going 
to get out! 

But we did get out after a while, and took 
a look at the sago that was drying in the sun. 
An old, lame dog, covered with sores, got up 
from his warm bed on a mat of sago, to look 
at us, and bark a little; but when he saw we 
would not touch it, he turned around and lay 
softly down again. 

From here we went into the room where 
tons and tons of the dry sago is ready to send 
away on ships. We did not have any desire 
for sago pudding right then, delicious as it 
often is! 

Tapioca is made in much the same way, and 
a great deal of it is also shipped from Borneo. 



A SAGO FACTORY AND FAREWELL 313 

A Chinese Sabbath keeper has a little 
"farm" of ten acres up the river about three 
miles from Papar. We wished to visit his 
place, so we sat down by the riverside to wait 
for the boats that we hoped would come. 

DRESS OF DUSUN WOMEN 

While we waited, a number of Dusun 
women and girls went by, returning to their 
homes. They had been to the fish market, 
or to the little shops in Papar. They were 
tiny women, but some of them were very neat 
looking. A number of them wore narrow 
skirts of black velvet or velveteen, with gayly 
trimmed jackets of the same material. This 
seemed too warm a dress for the tropics; but 
I suppose they do not mind, so long as it is 
the fashion! 

The tight skirts were very short, coming 
only to the knees, so they did not in the least 
impede their free, graceful walk. The jackets 
were made with long, tight sleeves, and came 
well up to the neck, with a little vest of white 
in front. They were trimmed with red braid 
and brass buttons, and really looked very 
pretty and quite different from anything I 
saw elsewhere in Borneo. Those who could 
not afford the velvet or velveteen used black 
cloth of some cheaper kind, made up in the 
same way, though without the trimmed jackets. 

For ornament they wore rings of silver on 
their arms and wrists, and belts made of sil- 



314 STRANGE PEOPLES AND CUSTOMS 

ver dollars around their waists. One little 
girl slipped off her heavy silver belt, and let 
us look at it. There were seventeen silver 
dollars in it, and with the clasps and fasten- 
ings it was valued at forty dollars. Her hat 
was a pointed affair of straw, finely woven, 
with a little trimming. 

A "man-propelled" trolley 

We waited awhile for the boats, but they 
did not come, so at last we decided to go by 
"trolley." This was great fun. The trolley 
was a small hand car, such as is used by a 
gang of men who repair and keep railway 
tracks in order at home. A narrow track had 
been laid out to a rubber estate some miles 
away, so the sheets of rubber, packed in boxes, 
could be more easily brought to the railway 
station. 

What made the trolley go? Four men, one 
sitting at each corner, and pushing with one 
foot — very much as you have seen little boys 
sitting in an express wagon, and pushing 
themselves along. 

We had a chair apiece to sit on, but most 
of our company sat or stood on the little space 
that was left. The men began to push, and 
away we went over the rough, narrow, curv- 
ing track. When we met a carload of sago, 
we had to wait for it to back onto a switch. 
If we met a "trolley" coming toward us, one 




Home of a Chinese Farmer in the Midst of the Jungle, Borneo 

had to get off the track, car and all, till the 
other passed by! 

As we were pushed along, we saw a number 
of the long native houses such as I have told 
you about. Two or three times we caught 
glimpses, through the coconut trees, of gayly 
painted structures that had been built above 
graves. At last, we came to the home of oui* 
Chinese friend, who was pleased to welcome 
us, and showed us his house and his farm. 

I wish I could tell you everything we saw 
growing in his garden! There were coffee 
bushes, and baskets of the coffee berries near, 
coconuts, rubber trees, sweet potatoes, beans, 
peanuts, bananas, and I know not what be- 
sides. The owner works hard from morning 

(315) 



316 STRANGE PEOPLES AND CUSTOMS 

till night taking care of it, and bringing water 
from the river to water it. 

It was getting toward sunset by this time; 
SO after having prayer with the man, we went 
back to the trolley. One does not like too well 
to be out in these lonely places after night- 
fall. And soon we were back in the rest house 
again. When I tell you that there were only 
two small kerosene street lamps in Papar, 
you will see that it is not a very large place 
yet — just a little oasis in the jungle. 

You will be glad to know that we have a 
cozy mission home for a native worker in 
Papar. Some day, I hope, there will be many 
here who love the Lord Jesus. 

The next day we came back to Jesselton, 
where we are waiting for a ship that will take 
us to Singapore again. And so we shall leave 
"Beautiful Borneo," with its lovely hills, and 
its great mountain, and its golden sands, and 
its poor people who need so much to hear the 
Good News. Do you not hope they will all 
hear it some day? 



•' 


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